LONDON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The London stock market, which shed in early trading Thursday as bank shares came under pressure, recovered by midday.

    The benchmark FTSE 100 index, once down 35 points, was up 17.7 points at 6,233.7.

    Bank shares shed with Barclays, which reported a further one-billion-pound write down of assets, falling 3.3 percent and RBS shares dropping 14 percent as they began trading without the right to new stock offered in its rights issue.