Around the World's Markets: London

LEADING SHARES closed modestly higher yesterday after an uneventful session ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend.

The FTSE 100 closed up 26.7 points at 6,226.2 after a bout of afternoon buying reversed earlier losses. The main driver behing the late rally was the Dow, which opened stronger after Thursday's rout.

The smaller indices undeperformed the leader, with the mid cap 28.6 lower at 5639.1 and the Small Cap finishing 5 down at 2546.7. Market Report, page 22