FTSE regains lost ground to post late recovery

THE FTSE 100 Index ended a nervy session in positive territory yesterday after threatening to plummet to new lows.

A strong start on Wall Street and renewed strength from front line telecom and banking stocks led a late rally in the City.

The Footsie eventually closed ahead 34.9 points at 3777.3 a 110-point reversal from the depths reached earlier in the day. The top-flight index had fallen to 3666.3 below last month's six-year closing low.

But confirmation of a bright start on US markets, where the Dow Jones moved up 170 points, helped swing sentiment around.

BT was again near to the top of the leaderboard, climbing 7p to 171.5p, while Vodafone was up 2.75p to 92.25p and mmO2 rose 1.5p to 44.75p. Among the banks Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland recovered earlier losses to climb up 10p and 39p to 400p and £13.04 respectively.

Food retailers were also on the up with Safeway ahead 8.25p at 192p, Wm Morrison up 5.5p at 204.5p and Sainsbury's 6.5p better off at 253p. News and information group Reuters was among those on the slide, falling 12p to 188p after, stockbroker UBS Warburg downgraded its rating on the stock to a hold.

The biggest risers were Xstrata, up 43.5p at 668.5p, Northern Rock, up 33p at 637p, Safeway, up 8.25p at 192p and BT, up 7p at 171.5p.

The heaviest fallers were Hays, down 6.5p at 93p, Hanson, off 18p at 280p, Reuters, down 12p at 188p and Wolseley, off 25.5p at 466.5p.