Footsie ends week in positive mood

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 Index shrugged off gloomy US economic data today to finish an otherwise subdued session for trading in positive mood.

Top flight shares lingered around their opening mark for much of the day before scraping to a close 8.4 points higher at 4257.2.

The positive finish came despite a poor start for the Dow Jones Industrial Average following publication of jobless figures, which surprised Wall Street with news of worsening unemployment in August.

But further pain for Royal & Sun Alliance, which fell yesterday after announcing 1,000 job losses and a £960 million cash call, dragged the Footsie into negative territory for most of the day.

Other insurers echoed Royal & Sun’s 6.5p fall to 128p, with Norwich Union owner Aviva slipping 2p to 520p, Legal & General down 0.25p to 103p. Prudential escaped the rot with a 1.25p gain to 473p.

A raft of stocks going ex-dividend – meaning the value of their recent shareholder payouts is stripped from companies’ market value – also weighed on trading.

Gas and electricity firm Centrica and airports operator BAA vied for the top slot on the Footsie risers board, rising 5.25p to 182.5p and 12.5p to 470p respectively.

Also enjoying a positive session was DIY retailer Kingfisher, which gained 2.25p to 269p after announcing regulatory approval for its Canadian home improvement business Reno-Depot.

But much of the attention was focused outside the top flight, with a clutch of FTSE 250 companies updating the City on earnings.

Most prominent among the risers was cement group RMC, which climbed 51p to 613p. Investors shrugged off the firm’s 37% fall in first half pre-tax profits to welcome further details of its turnaround strategy, which the firm said would cause job cuts.

Eurotunnel also continued its upward journey of yesterday, lifting to second in the FTSE 250 risers table with a 4.25p spurt to 63.75p.

Elsewhere, news that a massive expansion of bus services in London had lifted the annual profits of bus and rail operator Go-Ahead by 32.6% drove its shares up 32.5p to 915p.

Budget airline easyJet also soared 4.75p higher to 258.75p after reporting strong passenger figures for August.

On the downside, pubs operator JD Wetherspoon fell 17.5p to 237p after unveiling slowing sales figures.

It was beaten to the wooden spoon by music group EMI, which lost 14.75p to 139p on fears that it would be forced to follow a decision by rival Universal Music to cut the price of CDs.

Traditional cooker company Aga Foodservice also went cooler, off 13p to 223.5p, after blaming weaker US trading for a 6% drop in half-year profits.

And shares in Footsie fledgling stock Hornby shunted forward 65p to 980p after unveiling a new range of model trains powered entirely by steam.

Topping the Footsie risers board were Centrica up 5.25p at 182.5p, Royal Bank of Scotland ahead 42p at 1572p, BAA up 12.5p at 470p and AstraZeneca ahead 58p at 2650p.

Leading the fallers were Royal & Sun Alliance down 6.5p at 128p, Amvescap off 25.5p at 525p, Rolls-Royce down 4.5p at 181p and Associated British Foods off 12.5p at 510.5p.