FTSE 100 ends higher

The FTSE 100 ended the day higher at 5667.20, with new member Invensys leading the risers.

Technology group Invensys made its debut on the index today, rising six per cent to trade at 298.25p by the close of trade.

Pharmaceutical company Shire also finished higher, up 5.7 per cent to 842.50p, following the news Goldman Sachs had upgraded the company to buy from neutral.

Among the fallers, Land Securities Group fell 4.7 per cent over the day to close at 1275p, while HBOS also dipped by 4.2 per cent to 270.25p. Barclays also fell, by 2.7 per cent and Royal Bank of Scotland declined 2.1 per cent.

David Jones, chief market strategist for IG Index, said: "With no major economic news out of the UK or USA it has been something of a choppy day, but the FTSE 100 has managed to notch up around a 50 point gain so far.

"Some sort of respite was due after the steep declines over the last week and many traders will be waiting to see if the 5700 area can be regained on Tuesday. Once again, the 5600 levels did manage to prop the market up and the question for the next few days is whether UK and US markets are now at levels where we will see some solid buying come in.

"The major indices have traded back to levels not seen since late March and these did ultimately prove to be the springboard for some chunky rallies – with the FTSE putting on 700 points within a couple of months.

"Although the economic outlook cannot be said to have improved since then, markets are of course always forward looking and this week could shed some light on whether the consensus view for now is that we are past the worst."