London shares close just off session highs

Leading blue chips closed just off their session highs, as investors took heart from Wall Street's advance ahead of the first anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks, albeit in thin volumes as investors kept to the sidelines, dealers said.

Though the prospect of imminent military strikes receded somewhat after Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said Iraqi president Saddam Hussein should be dealt with through the United Nations, warnings of possible attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East continued to unsettle, they added.