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Although the Associated Newspaper London daily still recorded a drop in its six-month average, this time by 18.4% to 268,262, the monthly figure is a step up from April's results, when the title dropped by 0.14% on March to 266,214.

No price promotions took place for the title during the May period, according to the Evening Standard.

Editor Veronica Wadley said: "This shows once again that the Evening Standard is the first choice paper for Londoners for quality news coverage. Readers know that they can rely on the Evening Standard for immediate, comprehensive coverage by our specialist writers on the big breaking stories, which this month included the abduction of Madeleine McCann, Tony Blair's resignation and the Cutty Sark fire.

"Our core readership continues to recognise that the Standard provides Londoners with unrivalled journalism."

In the clash of the afternoon freesheets, News International's thelondonpaper took top spot with 486,615 copies, but this was a drop of 1% from April's 491,387 figure.

Associated Newspaper's London Lite also dropped circulation, falling by 0.1% on April to 400,229 copies.

The news that each have only slightly reduced distribution will come as a relief to the publishers. Associated and News International were caught up in a war of words last month when London Lite released pictures of distributors of thelondonpaper dumping copies of the title in bins in various locations in the capital. The vendors involved in the practice have since been sacked by News International.

In the morning freesheet market, Associated's Metro still holds a monopoly in the newspaper sector, and increased its circulation by 0.17% to 548,053 copies in London.

Financial freesheet City AM broke through the 100,000 distribution mark in April, recording a 100,640 figure. In May, it upped this total by 0.03% to reach a distribution figure of 100,672 copies hitting the financial community. Its six-month average is up by 24.7% to 93,429.

Jens Torpe, chief executive of City AM, said: "Hitting 100,000 in April was an important milestone for City AM and now we've successfully hit this distribution figure for the second month running, delivering a high quality audience to our advertisers."