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.

Interdealer broker ICAP was the top blue chip performer of the day, up 15.8p at 370.4p, inspired by midcap peer Tullett Prebon, ahead 79.8p (25.7%) at 390p after it said it is in preliminary talks that could lead to a takeover offer.

London Stock Exchange added 17.5p at 725.5p, continuing to enjoy yesterday's news of new investors in Turquoise.

Commodity issues also improved, with Fresnillo leading the miners to solid gains, up 27p at 867p. Antofagasta rallied 14p at 1,019p and Vedanta Resources was 64p better at 2,725p, while Randgold Resources gained 100p at 5,105p.

Oil producers made solid moves forward, with Shell adding 20.5p at 1,845p, BP ahead 5.3p at 624.9p and BG Group 10p better at 1,195.5p.

However, Tullow Oil weakened 4p at 1,277p after reporting tumbling profits for 2009 as the price of crude and gas fell during the year.

British Airways climbed 8.2p at 231.4p on hopes that prolonged talks with the Unite union, which represents cabin crew, will have a successful outcome.

On the downside with blue chips, supermarket operators were on offer, with Tesco down 1.1p at 438.2p, Sainsbury off 1.1p at 336.2p and Morrisons 0.7p light at 304.2p, ahead of final results tomorrow. Marks & Spencer slipped 2p at 349.1p.

Fund managers remained out of favour on regulation concerns, with Schroders off 33p at 1,355p and Man Group 1.4p lower at 248p.

The biggest FTSE faller was cigarette maker BAT, down 71.5p at 2,235p, while other notable losers included tour organiser TUI Travel, down 5.4p at 277.2p, and defence contractor BAE Systems, off 4p at 376.4p.

Down the list, spread better IG Group fell 4.8p at 410p with investors unimpressed by news that revenue for the quarter to end-February was around £69m compared with £62m in the corresponding quarter last year. The stock was downgraded to hold from buy at Panmure Gordon in response.

Civil engineering group Costain ticked up 0.5p at 24.5p after reporting revenue of £1.061bn in the year to end-December 2009, exceeding £1bn for first time in 16 years.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire