FTSE makes tentative early gains

The London stock market has made tentative early gains but there is little sign that investors believe G8 leaders are closer to tackling the eurozone crisis. A summit in Washington, United States, appeared to provide little in the way of reassurance for world markets after several days of heavy falls caused by fears about the future of Greece and whether it will exit the single currency. The FTSE 100 Index slumped to another new low for the year on Friday but recovered some ground by rising 26.7 points to 5294.5, buoyed by a resilient session in Asia. Notable risers included Royal Bank of Scotland, which was half a penny higher at 20.5p and Barclays after an improvement of 2.5p to 178.5p. In corporate results, British Land shares were slightly lower after the shopping centre owner reported a 5% rise in its net asset value for the last year but warned capital values were likely to be variable in the near term. Shares in the blue-chip company were 1.85p cheaper at 486.9p. Outside the top flight, outsourcing company MITIE Group rose 1.9p to 273.6p after it announced a 9% rise in full-year profits and said it remained optimistic about the year ahead.