FTSE 100 nudges 23 points higher on quiet day

The FTSE 100 eked out a small gain on a quiet day for the markets.

Lifted higher in part by some of the mining giants it ended at 7,777.7 points – a 23.08 point rise, or 0.3%.

“We’ve seen a modestly subdued session for markets in Europe, opening higher on the back of the more positive mood coming out of the US, with respect to positive noises coming out from the debt ceiling negotiations at the weekend,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

He added there had been a modest rebound in commodity prices which was supporting the basic resources and oil and gas sector.

In France and Germany, the Cac 40 and Dax indices had both ended flat.

The pound gained 0.6% to $1.252 and 0.4% to 1.151 euros.

Shares in International Distributions Services (IDS) rose 0.2% even after Ofcom said it was probing Royal Mail’s failure to meet delivery targets.

Investors seemed unconcerned by the fact that Royal Mail, a subsidiary of IDS, could face a fine.

The company fell short of its performance targets in the last financial year, with only 73.7% of first class post being delivered within one working day, nearly 20 percentage points behind target

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were 3i Group, up 47.5p to 1,876p, Centrica, up 2.8p to 117.55p, Segro, up 16.6p to 820.6p, HSBC, up 11.3p to 611p, and Anglo American, up 42.5p to 2,380p.

The biggest fallers were Ocado, down 10.4p to 431p, Rolls-Royce, down 3.2p to 145.1p, DCC, down 65.0p to 4,654p, London Stock Exchange, down 98.0p to 8,456p, and Tesco, down 2.5p to 273.2p.