Wall Street and bargain hunters push prices

The FTSE-100 Index staged a welcome rally today, surging back to 5403.4. That's a rise of 88.6 points.

Dealers say the City is riding on the coat-tails of Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average made a late surge after plunging by near to 400 points, and the tech-dominated Nasdaq closed over 65 points ahead.

Bargain hunters are also pushing up share prices in a rally that's likely to continue throughout the day, with Wall Street due to open ahead this afternoon.

In London, the biggest gains are being made by the techs and telecoms stocks that were battered over the past fortnight.

Telewest Communications has jumped 13% ahead, 14¾p at 119p, Energis has risen 9½p to 279½p, Colt Telecom is up 36p at 774p, BT is up 27½p at 496½p and Vodafone has risen 4p to 197p.

Among the telecom equipment firms Marconi is up 28p at 373p and Spirent has jumped 47p to 407p.

And the tech risers include software group Dimension Data, up 29p at 306p, Misys up 37½p at 514p, computer services group CMG rising 36p at 643p and chip designer Arm rising 22p at 317p.

As new economy stocks make progress, old economy stocks are suffering, led by Reckitt Benckiser, down 31p at 891, Cadbury Schweppes, down 10p at 460p and Scottish & Newcastle, down 10½p at 520p.

In a light day for corporate reporting, profit warnings are taking centre stage.

Food equipment manufacturer Enodis has lost its chief executive and 36% of its share price after warning of lower operating profits in the first half. Its shares are off , 55½p at 99½p.

Elsewhere, American pig breeder PIC International, which has its UK office in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, has seen its shares in London fall 1¼p to 35¾, after warning third-quarter profits would be £750,000 lower due to the foot and mouth disease.