Early trading good as London follows Dow

Investors in London picked up where counterparts in New York left off last night as a late flurry for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted London shares today.

The bounce back on Wall Street, following losses earlier in the session, encouraged the FTSE 100 Index, which put back some of the falls seen yesterday to stand 25.1 points higher at 4337.3 in the first hour of business.

All but a handful of stocks were in positive territory with Royal & Sun Alliance leading the pack following a reassuring set of half-year results.

Operating profits of £301m (€449.7m) were in line with expectations as R&SA also said it was confident its balance sheet complied with the new regulatory capital regime for insurers. Shares surged 5% or 3.75p to 72.5p.

Elsewhere, British Airways continued to rally, up 4.5p to 214.5p, while Shell recovered some of yesterday’s losses to post a rise of 4.5p to 394.25p.

Outside the top flight, estate agency group Countrywide tumbled 13% or 40.75p to 279.25p as it revealed it had arranged 25% fewer sales in July than a year earlier.

Ports and ferries group P&O fared better, rising 11.5p to 217.75p, as it delivered a largely positive outlook, despite continued tough conditions for its ferries business.