City market levels off at the close

The FTSE 100 Index finished up just 10.8 points at 5138.4.

A number of hi-tech stocks in London romped ahead before their progress was checked.

Sage, which had topped the Footsie risers' board earlier in the session, eventually finished ahead just ¾p at 241p.

Logica also closed off its best, up 6p at 610p, while Arm Holdings eased half a penny at 325p.

Upbeat data for the last three months of 2001 from German mobile firm and One2One owner Deutsche Telekom also helped telecoms stock initially.

While Vodafone remained 3p ahead at 165½p and BT picked up 1½p at 242¾p, mmO2 fell ¼p at 86¼p.

Of the retail companies reporting Christmas figures, Boots put on 15p at 616p despite only posting a modest rise in festive sales.

GUS also gained 18p to 658p, while Next was ahead 27p at 932p and Kingfisher moved up 7p to 405p.

However, Body Shop International slipped after recording flat like-for-like sales on the back of tough trading in the US. Shares eased 1½p at 108½p.

And one of the biggest fallers was Clinton Cards, which slumped nearly 7% or 10p at 143½p after a disappointing 1.5% rise in festive sales, which account for close to a third of group revenues.