FTSE falls back despite two-year high on Wall St

The FTSE fell back from yesterday's 31-month closing high in early trading Thursday, despite strong global gains overnight following a successful bond sale in Portugal.

London's leading index is 25 points, or 0.43%, down at 6,024. It closed Wednesday at 6,050, a 31-month closing high after a 0.6% gain. Supermarket behemoth Tesco is more than 2% lower after reporting a sharp fall in sales over the festive period because of disruption caused by the snow. Meanwhile, Xstrata, Diageo and British Airways have all opened lower. On the upside, engineering group IMI added almost 50p to 959p. Overnight in New York, the Dow Jones closed at a fresh two-year high, up 83 points to 11,755, after Portugal’s successful bond auction eased fears about another sov...