London market makes subdued start

The London market had a subdued start to the New Year today and hovered around its opening mark as traders eased back into work.

After an hour’s trading the FTSE 100 Index was down 2.8 points at 3937.6, in a day of little blue-chip company news.

Dealers said the markets were likely to remain quiet for the remainder of this week.

Tom Hougaard, trader at City Index, said: “There is no real reason to buy today just because it is the first day of the year – although the mentality is to start afresh.

“The City is still in holiday mode and I think it will remain so until Monday.”

With US futures markets closed until later in the morning, traders were also directionless over which way Wall Street would open.

In London, amid today’s gainers were banks and insurers, although retailers and drug stocks offset the rises.