Volatile mood in London stock market

The London market took a roller-coaster ride today as blue chip stocks recouped initial losses.

The FTSE 100 Index dipped as much as 45 points lower in early trading after an overnight slump on Wall Street knocked confidence amid more credit market concerns.

But the benchmark index moved back into positive territory by mid-morning - 11.6 points higher at 6113.8 - after a positive trading update from hotels and restaurant chain Whitbread and a recovery for financial stocks.

Whitbread was the session's top gainer - up nearly 3%, or 45p to 1603p - after pleasing investors with sales rises across its businesses and commencing a £300 million share buyback programme.

Mortgage lender Northern Rock, a stock heavily out of favour in the recent market upheaval, made gains of 11p to 723p, while Barclays cheered 8.5p to 597.5p. Insurer Standard Life also benefited from a Morgan Stanley upgrade to rise 4.25p higher to 288.75p.

Better-than-expected interim results saw Segro - formerly Slough Estates - 6p up at 520p. The company pointed to a strong performance in continental Europe, but warned that vacancy rates remained high in the UK.

The leading Footsie faller was housebuilder Persimmon, down 21p at 1143p after the stock turned ex-dividend, meaning that shareholders are not entitled to the latest dividend payout.

Mining stocks also littered the top of the fallers' board, with Xstrata down 51p to 2781p and Vedanta Resources off 18p at 1638p. Copper miner Antofagasta was 5.5p lower at 678p despite first half results ahead of expectations.

In the second tier, online gaming firm PartyGaming was the top performer with a rise of 12%, or 2.75p, to 25.5p. The company beat expectations with interim results and said it was confident over prospects for the rest of the year.