RENEWED recovery hopes for the US economy gave British bluechips a boost yesterday.

London’s FTSE closed up 50 points, at 4280, 1.2 per cent, after struggling for direction.

Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, gave a sobering view on the economy, telling MPs he was “more uncertain now than ever” on the UK economy, with doubts also over the global recovery prospects.

Among the banks, Asian-facing Standard Chartered advanced 60p, to 1195p, on hopes for an upbeat statement on firsthalf trading today. Barclays was 11.75p, up at 270.8p, while Royal Bank of Scotland cheered 0.37p, to 35.56p, despite being named by the Banker magazine as the world’s most loss-making bank.

Retailers were also under pressure after Comet owner Kesa Electricals posted annual losses of £81.8m and warned of another difficult year. B&Q owner Kingfisher lost ground in the top flight, down 2.6p to 172.9p.

Food retailer Morrisons was also down 4.5p at 239.75p. Tesco dropped 5.3p to 357.3p.

And while Kesa said there was no recovery in its markets, the fact that first-quarter trading had been in line with expectations meant shares recovered from a weak start to rise 6.75p, to 109.5p. Other major moves outside the top flight included a rally of 15 per cent for Yell.

The directories publisher was battered this week by concerns about its £4bn debt pile, but shares bounced 3.5p, to 27.5p.

It was joined on the FTSE 250 Index risers board by car dealership Inchcape, which rose 15 per cent, or 2.5p, to 18.75p after a better-than-expected trading update.

Transport group Stagecoach cheered 10p, to 127.75p, following the publication of annual results showing a 13 per cent rise in annual profits.