Strong progress for FTSE

Some of London’s biggest stocks were in focus today as the FTSE 100 Index made strong progress after the holiday weekend.

Vodafone set the pace in the top flight, with a gain of almost 5% after annual results, while British Airways recovered from recent weakness with a rise of 4%.

Overall, the Footsie stood 23.4 points higher at 6593.9 by mid-morning, even though GlaxoSmithKline and Royal Bank of Scotland were among the fallers.

RBS shares dipped almost 2%, or 10.5p to 632p, as its consortium unveiled a £48.2bn (€71bn) plan to counterbid for Dutch bank ABN Amro. The decline reflected the higher-than-expected cash element of the bid proposal.

GlaxoSmithKline joined RBS on the way down as analysts continued to revise forecasts after research last week suggested Avandia increased the risk of heart attacks by 43%. Even though Glaxo has rejected the findings, shares fell another 35p to 1299p.

A strong advance from mobile phone giant Vodafone helped buoy the Footsie as investors reacted positively to news of a 11.4% dividend increase, offsetting a slight dip in underlying profits and warnings of continued challenging conditions in Europe.

British Airways shares were ahead 20p at 481p.

In the second tier, Dairy Crest suffered share losses after announcing the recall of its Clover spread due to mould being found in the product.

Shares fell 3%, or 23p, to 678p as the firm said it would face a £1m (€1.5m) excess for the insurance claim, although it stressed it expected costs largely to be covered by the policy.

Elsewhere, beleaguered NHS software provider iSoft saw shares plummet 19%, or 9.75p, to 41p on news that its sale to Australia’s IBA Health could be blocked by iSoft partner CSC, which has said it opposes the £132.2m (€195m) deal.