With the expected rise in interest rates to 5.75% and little in the way of major corporate news, the analysts were holding sway today.
Capita, which administers the London congestion charge and the television licence among other activities, added 10p to 741.5p after Deutsche Bank raised its target price from 700p to 800p and recommended the shares as a buy.
"We believe strong growth will deliver further share price upside," said analyst Nicholas Ward. "This growth has the added attraction of being highly defensive in nature, making Capita one of the most compelling stories in the business services sector.
"While we have made some modest margin adjustments in this report, we feel our earnings forecasts continue to err on the side of caution."
Banking group Lloyds TSB was lifted 6.5p to 560p by Citigroup moving from hold to buy and increasing its price forecast from 600p to 650p. The bank said: "Lloyds is neither caught up in time consumer merger activity nor suffering the fall out from pursuing an aggressive growth strategy in a period of rising interest rates."
Rival Standard Chartered slipped 28p to £16.19 after Cazenove cut from outperform to in-line.
Among the mid-caps, insurance group Admiral added 19p to 959.5p. UBS moved from neutral to buy with an £11 price target, saying: "We believe Admiral is very well positioned for the cyclical upturn in motor insurance rates. The share price performance over the past few months, while rightly reflecting concerns over the cycle upturn, has been unduly weak. Since the beginning of April, Admiral shares have fallen 25%, underperforming the FTSE 250 by 24%."
But brewing and pubs group Greene King was 13p better at £10.72 as Deutsche Bank raised its target price from £11.50 to £12.10.
Immediately ahead of the Bank of England's 0.25 percentage point rise in rates, the FTSE 100 had edged down around 7 points and once the news was out, there was little immediate reaction. But with Wall Street slipping back by the time London closed, the leading index ended 37.9 points at 6635.2 while the FTSE 250 was off 31.4 points to 11,802.8.
Miners moved higher on firm metals prices, with copper and lead both heading upwards. So BHP Billiton was 25p better at £14.62 and Xstrata added 61p to £31.70. Analysts said there were also continuing hopes of consolidation in the sector.
Retailers, in the main, recovered after recent weather-related gloom despite the rate rise.
Next added 8p to £20.07, while B&Q owner Kingfisher was steady at 227.75p.
Nick Bubb at Pali International said: "[The rate rise] will lead to difficult autumn trading on the high street and in the housing market, as it feeds through to fixed mortgage rate deals for consumers, though this weak outlook has been already priced in to many stocks.
"But a) if interest rates are now at a peak (which is possible) and b) the short-term gloom about June retail sales has been overdone, then the sector may be due a rally after its recent underperformance phase."
Department store group Debenhams rose 3p to 134p awaiting news of a possible European merger, while Woolworths was wanted, up 0.5p to 27p as Panmure Gordon turned positive, upgrading from hold to buy.
Seymour Pierce kept its hold rating on Woolies after a Christmas merchandise exhibition last night. "It all looked great - as usual in the exhibition type environment," said Seymour's Richard Ratner. "But in the Woolworths stores, it always turns out to be a different story. However, we believe that in the last few weeks Woolies has benefited from the wet weather, with entertainment product selling very well. Moreover, the company does not seem to be either over-stocked, or particularly worried about a margin hit on the clearance of 'outdoor' merchandise. However, one must remember that Christmas is all important.
"There is no danger of a financial problem for the group as a whole, but the mainstream Woolworths business cannot stand on its own. At current levels, with the yield support, the shares remain a hold."
But building materials group Wolseley fell 32p to £11.83 after yet more acquisitions, albeit small ones. It is buying five companies for a total of £15m, bringing its spending since last August to £374m.
Industrial company Cookson dropped 53.5p to 693.5p after a disappointing trading statement, and building and maintenance firm Interserve lost 18.75p to 498.75p despite a confident update.
Vodafone lost 4p to 162.1p as it reportedly lost out on the contract to partner Apple for the iPhone launch in Europe, while ITV fell 2.3p to 112.2p on further consideration of yesterday's trading statement.
Recruitment group Michael Page added 34.5p to 594p as it unveiled record quarterly profits, while Game Group gained 13p to 195p after an upbeat trading statement. The computer game retailer said sales had been boosted by strong demand for Nintendo's Wii console. Oriel Securities issued a buy note saying: "Following the acquisition of Gamestation, Game Group is the undisputed leader in video games."
On Aim, Gaming VC said its results for 2007 would be ahead of expectations. Shares in the online gaming group rose 31.5p to 169p, while Panmure Gordon raised its target price from 130p to 150p and retained its hold recommendation.
Astek Group, which designs and make dental equipment, jumped 1.875p to 3.625p after it cut its full year losses to £327,000 and announced two global contracts for its products.
Still with teeth, dentist group Oasis Healthcare added 4.25p to 96p as the bid battle for the company continued. Duke Street Capital has raised its cash offer to 94p, topping a bid of 91p from ADP Healthcare. Duke Street also took a 27.4% stake in Oasis, while ADP now has 21.53%.