London shares close slightly higher

London stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday in quiet trade after Chinese data lifted hopes that Beijing would further loosen monetary policy and US trade figures turned out better than expected.

The benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading companies gained 0.10 percent to 5,851.51 points.

"With traders around the City glued to their screens, watching Team GB steadily accumulate more medals, the atmosphere in the markets is almost deathly quiet," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.

"Chinese data this morning provided perhaps the most excitement that we've seen all week, but even this has failed to make much of a lasting impact."

The biggest gainer was lender Standard Chartered, which regained 3.61%, or 47.5p, to 1,363 after its chief executive hit back against charges from the New York state regulator that it laundered some $250 billion for Iranian banks in violation of US sanctions.

The US Treasury on Wednesday confirmed it was investigating, but chief executive Peter Sands said: "There are a lot of matters that we don't recognize, we don't understand and are factually inaccurate."

He said the bank's profits from the transactions amounted to "tens of millions" of dollars, not hundreds of millions as DFS had suggested, but conceded the episode was "clearly very damaging. It would be unrealistic to pretend otherwise."

Broadcaster ITV meanwhile gained 1.95%, or 2.4 pence, to 83.20 on reports it was set to see a boost in advertising.

The biggest faller was oil and gas engineer Amec, which shed 4.83% or 56 pence to 1,103 after saying it expected underlying sales growth to slow in the second half.

Russian steel producer Evraz dropped 2.46%, or 6.90 pence, to 273.10.

Lloyds TSB was one again the most traded blue-chip, with 99 million units changing hands, while investors exchanged 60.6 million shares in Vodafone.

On currency markets, sterling bought $1.5615 at 1730 BST -- down from $1.5656 a day earlier -- while it rose to 1.2719 euros from 1.2662 as the European Central Bank admitted the single currency was on a weakening trend.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/london-shares-close-slightly-higher-165933967.html

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