High oil prices helped the major oil companies, and the strength of these two sectors was enough to offset another slump by banking shares, which was triggered by Bradford & Bingley. These shares were down heavily because of growing worries of a faltering property market that could prompt a surge in bad debts.

As the week progressed, banks managed to steady themselves but profit-taking in the mining stocks forced the index lower.

UK Coal, the Doncaster-based mining company, announced that output has continued in line with expectations. Confidence is high that they will also meet expectations for the full year.

The company went on to say that there have been no material events or transactions affecting it and no material change in the financial position.

Hull-based Cranswick, whose principal activities are carried out through its food and pet divisions, reported a rise in pre-tax profit, at £35.3m, against £32.7m, for the year ended March 31, 2007.

Cranswick continues to generate strong growth and the board is full of confidence going forward.

Drax Group, the Selby-based electricity generator, reported higher expectations for full-year earnings after an improvement in margins for coal-fired electricity. This has been helped by an improvement in trading conditions in the commodity markets in which the company operates.

Renew Holdings reported a 21 per cent rise in pre-tax profit for the first half of the year. The Aberford-based construction company said that this was due to higher sales, and its strong order book means that it hopes to deliver further progress in the second half.

The strong first-half results are in line with both internal and market expectations, and the company declared an interim dividend of 1p compared to 0.6p last year.

KCom Group, the telecommunications company based in Hull, reported a 58.5 per cent drop in full-year profit. The reason for the poor performance is because of reduced profitability within the Integration and Management Services segment.

The company said that it is well positioned for the future with trading in line with expectations.

The final dividend has been increased by 44.6 per cent, to 1.88p, giving a total dividend for the year of 2.82p.

Bradford-based Belgravium Technologies, whose principal activities are the design and manufacture of real-time electronic data capture systems, reported a disappointing trading statement saying that first-half results would be substantially below expectations because of a lack of new contracts.

Fraser Black Investment Manager at Brewin Dolphin, Leeds