THE London market finished virtually flat yesterday as no-change rate decisions from central banks in the UK and Europe failed to make an impact.

Investors took the widelyexpected decisions from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank in their stride in a largely quiet session for corporate news.

The FTSE 100 Index had edged just 3.5 points higher to 4386.9 by the close, although a poor session for miners hindered further progress. The weakness in the commodity sector offset a good session for supermarkets after Morrisons posted strong first-quarter sales figures.

Shares rose 6.5p to 254p.

Rival Sainsbury’s also moved nearly two per cent, or 5.5p, ahead to 322p as the company also benefited from a Morgan Stanley upgrade.

Tesco cheered 7.5p to 360.8p.

Several other blue-chip players made advances.

Argos owner Home Retail Group added 7p to 252p, B&Q firm Kingfisher added 4p to 196.6p and fashion chain Next was 38p higher at 1537p.

Banks were higher as Barclays fought back from share falls seen in the wake of a stake sale by a major Middle Eastern investor earlier this week.

Shares were up 6.25p to 266p. Royal Bank of Scotland added 1.1p to 37.2p, while Lloyds Banking Group was 1.1p better at 67.1p ahead of what could be a stormy annual meeting today.

But the FTSE was dominated by fallers from the heavyweight mining sector, led by Lonmin, which shed 100p to 1410p. It was closely followed by Rio Tinto, down 192p to 2720p amid speculation that an investment by Chinese stateowned Chinalco was off.

Debenhams shares fell 2.25p to 90p after the FTSE 250 firm completed a £323m fundraising to help pay down debts. WH Smith eased back by 8.25p to 425.25p after a third quarter trading update.