London shares drift lower as City gripped by lethargy

LONDON shares drifted lower yesterday as lethargy gripped the City despite a busy day for corporate updates.

A lack of anything out of the ordinary kept many investors on the sidelines, with US markets failing to add a spark later on.

And despite firmer crude prices bolstering oil giants BP and Shell, the FTSE 100 Index dropped 19.5 points to 4096.5.