The national newspaper ABCs confirm that the FT continues to look healthier under new editor Lionel Barber, combined with a renewed interest in the stock market and a recent promotional push.
The FT shifted 462,235 copies in April, up 3.64% from March's 445,986, and is the only daily paper apart from The Guardian to show a rise in year-on-year six-month average circulation. The FT's six-month average is 443,643, up 4.1% on 426,168 a year ago.
The Guardian's boost from its September conversion to the Berliner format continues to ebb. Its April figure was down from March by 1.38% to 374,580 copies, its lowest since the 404,187 high it hit in September.
However, The Times suffered the worst fall, down 2.26% month-on-month to 654,813. This was its lowest figure since December 2004, shortly after it went to an entirely compact print run.
The result followed the departure of its well-respected business editor Patience Wheatcroft in March to the Sunday Telegraph. Wheatcroft helped The Times to claim top spot as the paper read by the most business people in last October's British Business Survey.
The Daily Telegraph was down 0.16% to 900,078 while The Independent was down 1.14% to 252,931.
In the mid-market, the Daily Mail fell 1.11% to 2,371,133 copies while the Daily Express rose 0.06% to 832,462.
The red-tops, which last month saw their combined circulation fall below 6m copies, put in an improved performance.
The Sun rose 1.41% to 3,154,881 and the Daily Mirror was also up by 1.25% to 1,654,992, but the Daily Star was down 1.69% to 770,241.
London's Evening Standard dropped 2.57% to 315,800. The paper was redesigned at the beginning of this month with colour-coded sections and colour on every page.
The Express' stable daily sale has not been matched by its sister Sunday edition, which was down 11.74% to 789,363. No such bad news for mid market rival. The Mail on Sunday was up 7.04% to 2,430,850.
The Sunday Times was also down, falling 1.65% to 1,333,684 while rival The Sunday Telegraph suffered a smaller fall, down 1.01% to 682,585.
Among the Sunday tabloids the Daily Star on Sunday was down 0.16% to 385,109 and The People was down 0.71% to 843,077.
There was better news for Trinity Mirror sister title the Sunday Mirror -- it was up 0.74% to 1,457,919, which left it lagging behind rival News of the World up 2.72% to 3,551,378.
Among the quality Sunday titles, there was notable improvement came from the Independent on Sunday. It rose 10.80% to 258,368, with good news for Guardian sister title, The Observer, up 6.3% to 503,582.
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