At the close of business, the FTSE100 was up 26.58 points at 5,620.43 with the FTSE250 ahead 51.03 points at 9,930.04 and the FTSE Smallcaps 6.31 points lower at 2,881.64.

NEW YORK

US stocks made cautious progress in late morning trade as investors await the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the day.

Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 20 points to 10,662, the S&P500 added 5 points at 1,156 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 11 points at 2,373.

LONDON MARKETS

The markets in London remained buoyant throughout the session, with financial and commodity issues combining to keep the main index positive.

Among the miners, ENRC topped the sector, up 33p at 1,166p, while BHP Billiton added 20p at 2,185.5p, Rio Tinto rose 45p at 3,702p and Anglo American improved 16p at 2,680p. Randgold Resources jumped 122p at 5,000p as gold recovered to $1,125 an ounce.

Oil major Shell soared 26.5p at 1,856.5p after it announced plans to increase production 11% by 2012 while cutting its refining capacity and exiting more than a third of its retail markets.

Peers BP and Tullow Oil gained 3.1p at 622.4p and 23p at 1,283p, respectively, in response to the price of crude jumping close to $82 a barrel.

Barclays was the best of the banks, helped by Morgan Stanley raising its price target for the stock to 440p from 370p, ahead 8.85p at 357.45p. Royal Bank of Scotland gained 0.55p at 43.28p and HSBC rose 2.5p at 683.5p. Lloyds Banking Group bucked the trend, edging down 0.07p at 57.5p.

Aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce made the most of an upgrade to buy from add at Natixis, with the target price rising to 705p from 565p. Rolls-Royce shares added 10p at 578p.

British Airways climbed to the top of the FTSE leaderboard, up 10.6p at 226p, as investors warmed to its plans to counteract the imminent strikes. BA plans to fly all of its 777 long-haul aircraft during the planned cabin crew walkout.

Among the retailers only Next received a boost from department store group Debenhams which reported improving margins in the half-year. The fashion retailer gained 25p at 2,034p. Meanwhile, Debenhams eased 0.8p at 70.2p on profit-taking.

Other notable gainers in the main index included private equity firm 3i Group, up 4.3p at 285.6p, insurer Legal & General, ahead 2.6p at 82.35p, and interdealer broker ICAP, 8.2p better at 386.2p.

On the downside with blue chips, security group G4S was the biggest loser, down 9.4p at 269.2p after reporting a slowing in organic turnover growth to 3.7% for the year to end-December 2009, compared to 9.5% the prior year. Group turnover was up 7.4% to £7.008bn, up from £6.524bn in 2008.

Hedge fund manager Man Group slipped 1.2p at 246.3p on news that a decision on EU regulation has been postponed pending further discussions.

Cruise ship operator Carnival slipped 2.21p at 2,591p hit by rising fuel costs and currency weakness, announcing today that it will host a conference call with analysts on Tuesday to discuss the company's first quarter results.

Other notable casualties included insurer Prudential, down 7.5p at 530p, global caterer Compass Group, 5.1p lower at 496.9p and household goods conglomerate Reckitt Benckiser, off 27p at 3,504p.

Down the list, sports fashion retailer Sports Direct ticked up 0.5p at 107.5p after the Competition Commission cleared its acquisition of thirty-one JJB stores. JJB shares, meanwhile, fell 0.25p at 21p.

Photo booth operator Photo-Me International added 3.5p at 36p after it said it is confident of beating full-year market expectations after a strong performance in the first nine months.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire