Losing streak broken with £45bn restored to market

THE London market broke its losing streak yesterday to close sharply higher after investors took their lead from a better performance on Wall Street.

By the close of trading the FTSE 100 Index was up 188.8 points at 3965.9, reversing Wednesday’s slide and restoring £45 billion to share values.

Among the gainers were insurers, which put back some of their recent losses. Aviva was up 11%, or 39p at 388p, Prudential rose 35p at 450p, and Royal & Sun Alliance was up 6p to 155p.