MARKS & SPENCER was the FTSE 100 Index’s biggest faller yesterday, despite posting a 13 per cent rise in annual profits as analysts worried that its results could be “as good as it gets” for the retailer.

The retail bellwether, which has enjoyed a strong run in recent weeks, fell 11.4p to 385.6p, or nearly three per cent, as investors looked beyond the rise in full-year profits to £714.3m and noted the company’s cautious comments on trading this year.

Despite a share slide at M&S, the FTSE 100 Index staged a modest recovery following Monday’s major sell-off and rose 22.5 to 5858.4.

Mining stocks were among the biggest risers after benefiting from improved sentiment and rising oil and metal prices.

Cairn Energy was among the biggest risers, up 16.6p to 435.8p, or four per cent, after saying it plans to spend about $600m drilling near Greenland this summer.

However, London’s progress was stunted by a difficult session for UK banks.

Lloyds Banking Group fell 1.1p to 49.7p and Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 0.4p to 40.4p.

Barclays and HSBC were down 2.7p to 265.6p and 3.2p to 623.5p, even though they were excluded from the Moody’s list.

Other retailers on the back foot included Primark owner Associated British Foods, which fell 11p to 1067p, while supermarket group Tesco dropped 1.6p to 413.3p by the close of business.

The session was also notable for the full market debut of commodities trader Glencore, which last night became the first company in 25 years to be fast-tracked into London’s FTSE 100 Index.

Glencore shares are still lower than their starting price of 530p after dropping to a low of 506p during conditional trading last week, before recovering to about 525p.