FTSE closes on 6376.8

The London market gathered momentum during afternoon trading as a firm opening on Wall Street helped push blue chips into positive territory.

The FTSE 100 Index closed up 61.6 points at 6376.8 after struggling to find direction for most of the day ahead of the opening of US markets.

In the UK, fresh fears over credit market liquidity in particular put pressure on financial stocks, after interbank lending rates hit their highest level since 1998.

Mortgage Bank Northern Rock, which is said to have a Libor-dominated funding platform, topped the FTSE fallers with a fall of 9p to 732p.

Alliance & Leicester was also off 2p at 1058p, while Asian-facing bank Standard Chartered was down 3p at 1553p after a broker downgrade from UBS.

However, Segro - the former Slough Estates - bucked the trend with a lift of 2p to 550p.

Firmer oil prices, meanwhile, helped to boost energy groups. BG Group was 19p higher at 800.5p and oil major BP gained 10.5p to 561p.

Royal Dutch Shell jumped 56p, or 3 per cent to 1985p after it also benefited from a broker upgrade from UBS.

Winners: Royal Dutch Shell up 56p at 1985p, Home Retail Group ahead 11p at 429.5p, Kazakhmys up 34p at 1333p and BG Group up 19p at 800.5p.

Losers: Northern Rock down 9p at 732p, Liberty International off 14p at 1183p, Shire down 15p at 1295p and Schroders off 14p at 1332p.

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