Dismal blue chips aside, FTSE closes slightly upbeat

THE London market closed on a tentatively upbeat note today despite the best efforts of blue-chip stocks Invensys, Corus and Cable & Wireless.

The three fell heavily throughout the session.

Engineering group Invensys led the way after half-year figures missed targets.

Steel group Corus and telecoms giant Cable & Wireless also continued to tumble south after dismal updates yesterday.

It meant the FTSE 100 Index was under pressure for most of the session.

But trading was lifted towards the end by a positive start on Wall Street.

Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-laden Nasdaq opened up and the FTSE 100 was able to inch ahead 23.7 points to close at 4053.1.

US markets were lifted by stronger-than-expected retail sales data while UK stocks moving ahead included betting and hotels group Hilton.

It rose 9p to 169p despite profits hit by ongoing weakness in its hotels arm. Its gaming operations performed well, however.

Insurer Prudential was also ahead, up 20p to 445p, after agreeing to sell its German life insurance business.

British Gas group Centrica climbed 7p to 172.75p on plans to snap up the largest gas storage facility in the UK.

And mobile phone giant Vodafone continued to climb after cheering the City with strong half-year figures on Tuesday. Today it added 4.75p at 116.25p.