The London stock market ended slightly higher yesterday with the performance of banking shares.

The FTSE 100 index added 18.29 points or 0.44 percent to close at 4171.25.

Standard Chartered led the gainers with its shares rising 15.86percent, to be followed by Barclays, up 13.52 percent, while HBOS rose 12.79 percent.

Rio Tinto shares, however, dropped a massive 36.73 percent after BHP Billiton gave up its takeover plan.