Footsie closes up after tentative rally

The London market has staged a tentative rally today to give investors a welcome break from a spate of hefty losses.

Gains by hi-tech stocks and a number of market heavyweights mean the FTSE 100 Index has added 78.6 points to close at 4471.2.

But few believe today's rally is the start of an upward trend.

The biggest FTSE 100 risers have been BG, up 17¼p at 283¼p, and Compass, up 22¾p at 382¾p.

The heaviest fallers are Amersham, off 25p at 510p, Scottish & Newcastle, off 15p at 600p, and Safeway, off 4¾p at 250p.

In the banking sector, Lloyds TSB has moved up 7p to 612p, Royal Bank of Scotland has climbed 23p to £17.08 and Abbey National has edged up ½p at 741p.

HSBC and Alliance & Leicester have both benefited from broker upgrades and gained 20p at 750p and 14p at 807p respectively.

The ITC's decision to award its digital licences to the consortium led by BBC and BSkyB helped the pay-TV broadcaster's shares rise 27p to 602p.

ITV partners Carlton Communications and Granada missed out in the bidding. Granada has actually put on 2p at 11p despite the failure, but Carlton has dipped 2½p at 193p.

Among the handful of companies reporting today, bookmaker Stanley Leisure has soared 7% after posting a 43% jump in full-year profits. It has moved up 23½p to 367p.