Trading soars as renewed confidence buoys market

THE London market smashed back through the 4000 level yesterday as investors piled into shares after being buoyed

Heavyweight financial and oil stocks were among those pulling the market ahead, and helped the FTSE 100 Index close 198.7 points higher at 4130.3.

Confidence was boosted by a surge on Wall Street after traders were powered by a batch of surprisingly good profits reports. The 5% market surge marked the third largest percentage rise the Footsie has ever made.Among the risers were financial stocks, given a lift from better-than-forecast figures from US firms Fannie Mae and Citigroup.