FTSE recovers after early American drama passes

THE London market managed to close with its head above the 4000 mark today, despite receiving a blow from Wall Street during afternoon trading.

US exchanges slumped on their opening on the back of unexpectedly-poor unemployment figures, while the shock resignation of treasury secretary Paul O'Neill also shook traders.

But as the surprise wore off, Wall Street stabilised and by the time London closed, US markets were trading around their opening levels.

The US news hit London in early afternoon, and saw the FTSE 100 Index slump 100.5 points to 3931.9 but by the close of trading investors had recovered their poise and the Footsie ended just 18.9 points lower at 4013.5.

The drama from the US came in a quiet day for news in London.

Among stocks which weighed on the market were banking shares as they continued a bad run following disappointing updates from Lloyds TSB and Barclays earlier in the week.

Lloyds lost another 5p at 503.5p while Barclays slipped 9.5p at 406.5p and Standard Chartered fell 2p to 744p.