An oil price rise late in the session helped London stocks stage a modest recovery from early losses that had knocked investors returning from their three-day weekend break.

Down 1.6 per cent at the open, the FTSE 100 crept modestly higher in the afternoon, although a crop of forecast-beating results and bid activity failed to lift the market into positive territory. By the close it had receded 34.9 points, or 0.63 per cent , at 5470.7 and the mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 0.53 per cent to 9133.6.