An upbeat start on Wall Street helped lift London shares clear of the key 4300 support level yesterday.

The FTSE 100 Index ended the day 37.9 points ahead at 4324.9 after buoyant US consumer confidence figures boosted investors' spirits in New York.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average responded positively to the data, moving above the crucial 10000 threshold to stand 65 points ahead shortly after London's close.

The decent performance by the Footsie was due in part to an improvement among financial stocks after Monday's poor showing. The index had dipped to its lowest level since October after investors failed to warm to a takeover bid for banking group Abbey National.

After losing 23p on Monday amid disappointment at Banco Santander Central Hispano's £8.5bn offer, Abbey recovered somewhat to add 10p to 567p by yesterday's close.

Insurance company Prudential was among the top flight risers after saying businesses across the group were "firing on all cylinders".

Better-than-expected half-year figures were offset by a lack of an update on the sale of the Pru's 79 per cent stake in Internet bank Egg, but the stock still gained one per cent or 6p to 439p.

The Pru was joined by Norwich Union owner Aviva, up 11p to 535.5p, and Royal & Sun Alliance, advancing 1.25p to 76.25p.

Meanwhile, Alliance & Leicester gained 6p to 835p as growth across its business helped half-year profits edge up two per cent to £268m. Other banks that dropped on Monday were on the up, including Barclays, which picked up 7.5p to 450.5p, and Lloyds TSB, which also gained 7.5p to 404.5p.

While financial stocks did well, other corporates reporting earnings yesterday put in a less impressive performance.

British American Tobacco found itself fourth in the Footsie fallers, off 13.5p to 829.5p. Energy group BP was also lower with a penny retreat to 488.75p.

And news and financial data group Reuters was the highest loser, dipping nearly five per cent, or 16p to 307p, despite announcing that the rate of decline in recurring revenues slowed for the third successive quarter, to 6.2 per cent in the three months to June 30. The shares fall was blamed on a more cautious outlook.

Outside the top flight, ailing retailer WH Smith advanced 2.5p to 289p after mapping out its business strategy. Pizza chain Domino's saw its stock gain more than one per cent or 2.5p to 225p after increasing its half-year dividend by more than two thirds on the back of a 41.5 per cent rise in interim pre-tax profits to £4.1m.

The biggest winners were GUS, up 21p to 841p, Xstrata ahead 18p to 744p, Vodafone rising 2.75p to 116.75p and Standard Chartered advancing 20.5p to 893.5p.

The largest losers were Reuters, Amvescap, Shire Pharmaceuticals and BAT.