Late rally leaves Footsie on the front foot

London share prices ended on the front foot thanks to bright trading on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones surged ahead 127 points early on to help the FTSE-100 Index close up 41.1 points at 5884.

The late gains more than made up for what was a 75 point fall at lunchtime.

Investors in London will hope the late gains can be maintained for the rest of the week, despite economic concerns.

The Bank of England's quarterly economic forecast says its monetary policy committee remains concerned about the uncertain outlook.

Unemployment figures showing a record number of people in work are unlikely to prove much of a deterrent to future interest rate cuts.

Corporate results have dominated the day's session with rejuvenated supermarket chain Safeway ringing up a 6% increase after full-year profits sparked 33%. The group, which says its recovery under chief executive Carlos Criado-Perez is now complete, shot up 20p to 357p.

Other shares having a good day include Cable & Wireless, which rose 16p to 470p despite a widely forecast fall in annual profits. The company says it may release some of its £7 billion-worth of savings in a share buy-back later this year.

The biggest risers were Capita, up 30½p to 521½p, Anglo American, up 69p to £12.19, Safeway, up 20p to 357p, Rio Tinto, ahead 80p to £14.45 and Dimension Data, up 15½p to 331p.

The heaviest fallers were Logica, down 40p to 868p, Pearson, off 48p to £13.60, Bank of Scotland, down 21½p to 807p, Granada, down 4¼p to 160p and WPP, off 20½p to 784½p.