FTSE rollercoaster day ends with modest gain

Swings in US sentiment played on the Footsie today as London's blue-chips made modest gains on a rollercoaster day.

Early optimism on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke the 13,000 barrier overnight, briefly took the London market through the 6,500 level at midday, stretching 49.2 points higher to 6511.1 at its peak.

But a more cautious opening in the US sent the FTSE 100 Index into retreat as the market gave back most of its earlier gains to finish just 7.5 points ahead at 6469.4.

On a slow day for economic news, companies producing strong corporate figures led the risers' board.

Household cleaning goods firm Reckitt Benckiser finished nearly 6%, or 147p, higher at 2775p after the Vanish and Finish maker upped its sales forecasts on the back of a strong start to the year.

Fund manager Amvescap also saw a rise of more than 4%, with its shares rising 23.5p, to 600.5p as the firm unveiled a 27% increase in first-quarter operating profits.

Pharmaceuticals firm Shire, which posted stronger than expected figures yesterday, made further advances today after a broker upgrade and saw shares up 23p to 1184p

Other risers included supermarket giant Tesco, up 7.5p to 467.5p on fresh reports of its interest in Australian chain Coles, while firms with exposure to the US benefited from the sight of the pound falling back below the US$2 mark.

Risers included GlaxoSmithKline, which lifted 1p to 1465p, while Plumb Center operator Wolseley cheered 18p to 1223p.

The blue-chip stocks in the red included heavily weighted mining group Xstrata - down 54p at 2648p - and Royal Bank of Scotland, down 28p at 1970p.

The fall for RBS came after the banking group received clearance to carry out due diligence on takeover target ABN Amro, but investors were nervous over the prospect of a costly bidding war with Barclays.

Supermarket Sainsbury's shares lost some of their strength following a gain of 7% yesterday. The stock had surged after a major chunk of shares changed hands, fuelling expectations that the company's retail operations could be split from the property side. The stock eventually recovered from earlier losses to finish 0.5p higher at 568.5p.

Outside the top flight, shares in recently-listed Sports Direct International continued to struggle after a trading statement. With the update short on detail, analysts took the opportunity to scale back profits estimates and shares plunged nearly 6% lower, down 13.75p at 222.5p.

But rival chain John David Group picked up earlier losses to finish 3.5p ahead at 491.25p as the company said like-for-like sales raced ahead 7.5% in the first 12 weeks of its financial year, although it warned that the performance was unlikely to be repeated over the rest of the year.

The biggest Footsie risers were Reckitt Benckiser up 147p at 2775p, Amvescap ahead 23.5p at 600.5p, Shire up 23p at 1184p and Resolution up 12p at 648p.

The biggest Footsie fallers were Xstrata down 54p at 2648p, Experian off 9.5p at 567.5p, Slough Estates down 12p at 759p and Yell down 7.5p at 482.5p.