THE FTSE 100 Index struggled for direction despite a boost for Barclays and a positive start on Wall Street.

Barclays rose as much as ten per cent at one point as it confirmed takeover interest in its Barclays Global Investors division, which is thought to be worth about £6.6bn.

The news helped its rivals recover ground lost this week, but the Footsie closed down 14.47 points at 4348.11 as choppy trade on Wall Street failed to guide investors.

With little in the way of corporate news to digest, the market pared its losses slightly in the wake of US news suggesting the economy’s decline may be slowing.

Excluding declining energy and food prices, core US consumer prices edged up 0.3 per cent – slightly higher than forecast – despite news of a deeperthan- expected recession in the eurozone dampening sentiment.

In London, the focus was on Barclays after talks over a sale of its BGI fund management division emerged, with bidders reported to include US money manager Black Rock.

That gave a welcome boost to the sector after a sharp correction earlier in the week.

Barclays ended up nearly six per cent – a rise of 14.75p to 267.75p – and Lloyds Banking Group rose 1.4p to 89.2p.

But Royal Bank of Scotland lost its gains to end the day flat at 39.5p, and HSBC slipped more than one per cent, down 7.75p at 532p.

BT led the fallers’ board after a downgrade from Investec in the wake of the firm’s announcement of 15,000 job cuts and a dividend cut on Thursday.

Shares were down 3.4p to 85p.