Wall Street boosts Footsie

Modest gains on Wall Street helped the London market edge ahead and end the week on an upbeat note.

The FTSE 100 Index has been stuck in a narrow trading range all week but today it shook off three days of losses to close up 24.1 points at 5233.6.

The gains were partly fuelled by a positive start in the US where upbeat comments from 3M, the maker of Scotch tape and Post-it Notes, helped to offset poor economic news.

US unemployment figures for March came in higher-than-expected today but by London's close the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained more than 50 points.

London's session, however, was most notable for a dearth of corporate updates and a weak performance from heavyweight oil stocks.

BP and Shell both fell back as the price of crude dropped following US president George Bush's comments last night on the Middle East, which analysts believe could defuse tension in the region.

The company, which also suffered from a slight downgrade by Goldman Sacks, dropped 1½p to 608½p while Shell closed 3p lower 504p.

Other companies were faring better, however, with GlaxoSmithKline up 35p at £16.30 and AstraZeneca 55p higher at £34.57.

Among the banks, Barclays moved up 16p to £21.56, Royal Bank of Scotland was ahead 4p at £18.00 and HBOS added 3½p at 729p.

Of the insurers, CGNU was up 15½p at 768½p while Prudential shrugged off the controversy about its planned bonus scheme for directors to rise 10½p to 737½p.