City's short session produced little action

TRADING on the London market fizzled out on Christmas Eve as the City packed up for the festive break.

The half-day session was notable for minuscule volumes and a dearth of corporate news. It meant the FTSE 100 Index was lodged in a narrow trading range throughout the session and closed just 5.2 points above its opening mark at 3942.1.

The London Stock Exchange remained closed yesterday, but will be open again today before shutting once more for New Year's Day.

December often sees festive rallies but this year, long-term gains remained elusive. Adding some support over recent days, however, were oil stocks as the price of crude pushed ahead. It has benefited from the threat of war in Iraq and continuing concern over how the national strike in Venezuela will affect demand.

On Tuesday, BP put on 3p at 429p and Shell surged 7.75p to 416.25p, its highest point for nearly a month.

Other heavyweight stocks adding some support included mining giant BHP Billiton, the day's biggest riser with a 7.5p climb to 330p.

But retail stocks were under pressure in the wake of reports of sluggish festive demand on Britain's high streets. As the last remaining hours of Christmas shopping got underway, those on the way down included supermarket chain J Sainsbury, off 2.25p at 272.25p, Argos-owner GUS, 5.5p lower at 566.5p, fashion giant Next, down 7.5p at 734.5p and Marks & Spencer, 6.75p weaker at 307.75p.

Among the FTSE 250 retailers, Woolworths slipped 1.5p at 35.75p and MFI Furniture lost 4.75p at 105.25p. But charter airline firm Excel Airways flew ahead 10% up 15p to 168p after reporting a jump in turnover and underlying profits in its first set of results since listing last month. And computer hardware manufacturer Network Technology shot ahead 10% despite warning the City not to expect a full recovery in most of its hard-hit markets until 2005.

However, it added that its core US market should see an improvement sooner and the shares added 0.25p at 2.75p.

The biggest blue-chip risers were BHP Billiton, up 7.5p at 330p, Shell, up 7.75p at 416.25p, Exel, up 12p at 682p and Schroders NV, up 8p at 469.5p.

Heaviest fallers were GKN, down 11.5p at 200.5p, Marks & Spencer, down 6.75p at 307.75p, Scottish & Newcastle, down 9p at 457p and BT Group, down 3.75p at 193.5p.