It’s an ill wind, the saying goes, and the collapse into administration of delivery firm City Link gave a push to shares in Royal Mail.
The demise of a rival saw Royal Mail add 19.4p to 442.5p, topping the FTSE 100 risers as investors had their first chance to react to the news. The company is still well below its 52 week high of 618p.
Overall, despite the uncertainty caused for the eurozone by news of a snap election in Greece, leading shares ended the day in positive territory.
The failed vote to choose a Greek president which led to the election decision helped push European markets lower in the immediate aftermath, but most recovered ground. Even the Athens market, down around 11% at one point, closed down just 3.9%.
The FTSE 100 finished up 23.58 points at 6633.51, helped by a strong performance from the mining sector, which shrugged off further talk of weakness in the Chinese economy, and benefited from a steady oil price.
BHP Billiton was 38p better at £14.07, Anglo American added 32.5p to 1214.5p, Rio Tinto rose 78.5p to £29.66 and precious metals miner Fresnillo added 19.5p to 749.5p.
David Madden, market analyst at IG, said:
Mining companies have single-handedly propped up the London market in a day that would have seen it dragged down by the eurozone. There have been many trading sessions when the natural resource component of the FTSE 100 held it back, in comparison to its European equivalents, but today it has proved to be an asset.
A couple of companies saw their shares go ex-dividend, with Burberry down 2p to £16.53 and BT 11.2p lower at 405.5p.
Elsewhere TalkTalk Telecom edged up 0.1p to 305.3p on reports it could buy loss making video streaming service Blinkbox from Tesco, up 2.45p to 188.45p.
Next dipped 45p to £65.15 ahead of a trading update on Tuesday, while Asos added 15p to £25.98 despite technical problems with its website on Sunday.
