At the close of business, the FTSE100 was up 38.27 points at 5,640.57 with the FTSE250 up 90.61 points at 9,865.29 and the FTSE Smallcaps 6.34 points lower at 2,861.42.

NEW YORK

US stocks made modest gains in late morning trade, driven by financial sector consolidation chatter.

Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 21 points at 10,586, the S&P500 rose 7 points to 1,147 and the Nasdaq Composite added 19 points at 2,360.

LONDON MARKETS

Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed today that the 2010 Budget will be delivered on 24th March.

The market in London sprang into life in the afternoon session after a morning dulled by disappointing UK manufacturing data, with rallies from financial and commodity issues providing the momentum.

Among the banks, Lloyds was the pace setter, up 2.08p at 55.26p, while Barclays added 2.05p at 347.85p, Royal Bank of Scotland ticked up 1.42p at 40.4p and HSBC edged up 5p at 706.1p.

Insurers also improved in the afternoon, with Standard Life gaining 4.1p at 208.3p and Prudential 15p higher at 534.5p, while Aviva added 2.4p at 394.5p and Legal & General moved 1.4p higher at 79.6p.