London's FTSE 100 Index rose today after a boost from Lloyds Banking Group, but ended the week much lower than its new all-time high set on Monday.
Shares in Lloyds Banking Group jumped by more than 7%, adding cheer to a quiet session after its first quarter update was seen as a positive sign for dividend payments this year. The lender has only recently re-introduced payouts.
Mining stocks were also stronger, with Anglo American and Rio Tinto up by more than 3% as the FTSE 100 Index climbed 25.3 points to 6986.
London's improvement came despite a 1% drop for the Dow Jones Industrial Average last night, with US traders spooked by a batch of weak corporate results and the country's poor GDP figure earlier in the week.
The FTSE 100 reached a new record high at the start of the week but the top flight has fallen by almost 140 points since then.
On currency markets, sterling fell by a cent against the dollar at just under 1.52, and two cents against the euro at 1.35 after UK manufacturing growth posted a surprise slowdown to its weakest pace for seven months in April.
The disappointing CIPS survey comes in the week that official figures showed wider UK gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 0.3%, its weakest pace in more than two years, in the first quarter of 2015.
The bright spot of the session came from Lloyds after it reported a better-than-expected 21% rise in underlying profits to £2.18 billion for the first quarter, although bottom-line pre-tax profits were 11% lower at £1.21 billion as it took a £660 million hit from the spin-off of TSB.
Lloyds shares were up 5.49p to 82.87p - the highest level in more than a year - as the bank said profit margins were ahead of previous forecasts.
Elsewhere in the banking sector, stock market newcomer Virgin Money climbed 5p to 399.2p after it said it had increased its share of the mortgage market to 3.6% in the first three months of the year.
Housebuilders were among stocks under pressure as general election jitters increased. Barratt Developments fell 6p to 513.5p, Persimmon dropped 9p to 1691p and Taylor Wimpey eased 0.7p to 165.5p.
Outside the top flight, shares in model railway firm Hornby jumped as high as 5% following a trading update in which it reported "significantly improved" sales growth. The performance means the Scalextric and Airfix maker is on track for its first annual profit in three years. Shares eased, but were still 1.5p higher at 90p.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were Lloyds Banking Group up 5.49p at 82.87p, Anglo American up 60p at 1165p, Rio Tinto up 112p at 2997p and BHP Billiton up 46.5p at 1607.5p.
The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index were Aberdeen Asset Management down 12p at 463.1p, Hargreaves Lansdown down 31p at 1199p, Severn Trent down 41p at 2084p and TUI down 23p at 1200p.
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