Another good performance from Vodafone AirTouch helped support the FTSE 100 index on a day when Wall Street was a negative factor.
The mobile phone operator, by far Britain's largest company by market value, gained 5 per cent and was effectively responsible for all of Footsie's 37.1 point gain to 6,419.6.
The blue-chip benchmark started weaker after Wednesday's sharp fall in the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite index in the US. Footsie drifted down to its low for the day of 6,314.4, down 41.1, in the first half-hour.
Shares received a lift at noon when, as expected, the Bank of England left the repo rate unchanged at 6 per cent. The bank did not issue a statement but recent housing and average earnings data have been weak.
"Our central view remains, on balance, that base rates have peaked at 6 per cent and there is no obvious need for monetary policy to be tightened further," said Mr Philip Shaw, UK economist at Investec. "Nevertheless, we concede that the MPC's jitters over sterling could yet result in rates going up over the summer."
The rate news and a solid first few minutes on Wall Street allowed Footsie to reach its best for the day of 6,438.4, up 55.9. But then stronger-than-expected US factory orders and another profit warning from a technology company weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and dragged Footsie back from its peak.
While the direction of UK interest rates is very important to the London market, Footsie is unlikely to break out of its recent 6,000-6,600 trading range until the peak in US rates is clear. That guarantees a nervous session today, as investors wait for the crucial US non-farm payroll and earnings data.
The UK's other indices lacked the vital influence of Vodafone to drag them higher and all ended with small losses. The FTSE 250 dropped 4.2 to 6,603.8, the SmallCap 3.3 to 3,366.3 and the Techmark 100 23.13 to 3,405.06.
Logica was the worst Footsie performer, thanks to Nasdaq's overnight fall, and Eidos suffered the biggest loss in the FTSE 250 over disappointment at the lack of an immediate bid.
Turnover was 1.35 billion shares by the 6 p.m. count, with Vodafone again the most active stock. The number of trades, an indicator of retail investor activity, was 88,500, well down on the 140,000-150,000 in March.
