Wall St lifts depressed Footsie

The FTSE 100 Index closed up 23.7 points at 4053.1 despite heavy falls by Invensys, Corus and Cable & Wireless.

But trading on the London market was lifted towards the end by a positive start on Wall Street. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-laden Nasdaq opened up and the FTSE 100 was able to inch ahead 23.7 points to close at 4053.1.

But Cable & Wireless fell 8.5p to 74.5p, as brokers downgraded the stock.

Yesterday it slumped 35% after announcing costly plans to reshape its Global division.

Corus also slid, down 6.5p to 27.5p, as it added to a 27% dive yesterday when it called off a merger with Brazilian firm CSN and warned over tough conditions.

But the biggest faller was Invensys. It saw a quarter of its value wiped out as shares fell 15.25p to 46.75p as traders and investors registered their disappointment with the interim results.

But Hilton rose 9p to 169p despite ongoing weakness in its hotels arm hitting profits.

Prudential was also ahead, up 20p to 445p, after agreeing to sell its German life insurance business while British Gas group Centrica climbed 7p to 172.75p on plans to snap up the largest gas storage facility in the UK.

And Vodafone continued to climb after cheering the City with strong half-year figures on Tuesday. It added 4.75p at 116.25p.

Others in the sector moving ahead included rival mmO2, which put on 1.25p to 54.25p, and BT, ahead 6.75p at 210p.

But HSBC was another faller, off 27.5p at 679.5p, as investors worried a US acquisition, while making strategic sense, could dilute the value of its shares. HSBC is issuing more shares to fund the purchase of Household International, which will beef up its presence in the US and in the credit card market.

Elsewhere, 3i dropped after weak markets meant it reported negative returns on its investments for the first-half. Analysts were otherwise pleased with 3i's half-year figures but the shares still tumbled 23p to 502p.