Blue chips drive moderate FTSE gain

A strong run for firms reporting results this week helped London's blue-chips gain ground today although downbeat economic news from the US took the gloss off the day.

The FTSE 100 Index closed the session up 30.5 points at 6449.2 as it gave back some of its earlier gains after disappointing US manufacturing data took its toll on afternoon trading. Meanwhile the forthcoming May Day holidays mean trading volumes could be lower this week.