Market report: Tuesday close

REUTERS screens suffered a three-and-a-half hour glitch today, leaving dealers unable to operate in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. If they had been able to watch, dealers would have seen insurers under pressure again as

L&G is issuing 13 new shares for every 50 held at 60p a share. The stock fell 6 1/4p at one stage before rallying 1 3/4p to 114 1/2p.

The market turned its attention to beleaguered insurer Royal & SunAlliance. With capital reserves depleted by the global setback to share prices, RSA must surely make a similar deeply-discounted rights issue. Its shares reflected this, slipping 1/4p to 126 1/4p. Aviva, down 9p to 444 1/2p, and Friends Provident, slipping 1/4p to 135 3/4p, headed the FTSE 100 fallers as gloom descended on the sector.

Telecoms were boosted by Nokia figures and mmO2 added 2 1/2p to 46 3/4p, BT went ahead 10 1/4p to 199 3/4p and Vodafone gained 2 1/4p to 96 1/2p.

Wall Street opened higher, helping London build on earlier gains. The Footsie ended ahead 113.10 at 4175.5 and the other indices were in positive double-figure territory.

British Airways fought to stay in the blue-chip index hours ahead of the meeting of the Footsie constituents committee, which will make its decision based on today's closing prices. It took off with a 3 1/4p gain to 135p. The airline, one of the main market casualties of the terrorist attacks on 11 September, hit an 11-year low on Monday.

The quarterly FTSE indices review will bring a large number of changes to the various indices. Almost certain to leave the top 100 is EMI, even taking into account today's 6 1/2p rise to 178 1/2p. The music group has been hit by downgrades and competition worries.

International Power, the utility, also faces expulsion despite adding 3p to 112p. Schroders, the investment firm, appears to be saved as its shares gained 26 1/2p to 531 1/2p. Software stock Sage added 7 1/2p to 122 1/4p, helping its Footsie survival chances.

Waiting in the wings, engineer Tomkins gained 2 3/4p to 242p, anxious to make a reappearance. It seems almost certain to gain promotion. Paper and packaging firm Rexam, another candidate for elevation, added 2p to 445p.

Retailers were boosted by the British Retail Consortium's optimism about August sales. It believes sales grew by the fastest annual rate for five months, showing that the High Street shopping boom is continuing. Dixons headed the Footsie risers with a gain of 14p to 181p. GUS was up by 6 1/2p to 508 1/2p and Kingfisher added 12 3/4p to 216 1/4p.

Mining giant Anglo American added 45p to 817p as it produced first-half earnings above expectations, leading Merrill Lynch to set a target price of 1400p.

Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.

Geoff Foster on yesterday's trade
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Today's gainers and fallers