Footsie at levels seen before US terror attacks

London shares are at their highest level for more than a month following another strong session on Wall Street.

Banks, pharmaceuticals and media stocks are making the biggest gains as the market builds on yesterday's surge.

By mid-morning, the Footsie index of 100 leading stocks is up 76.8 points at 5229.9 - boosted by hopes of a further cut in interest rates by the European Central Bank.

The air of confidence is helping high street banks, with Barclays up 67p at £21.14; Lloyds TSB up 16p at 716p; and Royal Bank of Scotland ahead 40p at £16.70.

Among media stocks, WPP is up 27p to 568p; Daily Mail & General Trust is up 52p to 657p; and Pearson is 61½p ahead at 821½p.

Shire Pharmaceuticals is up 20p to £10.35; Celltech has moved up 40p to 840p; and GlaxoSmithKline has gained 18p at £19.73.

Of the 15 stocks in negative territory, Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser are down 16½p at 516p and 23p at 981p respectively, while Compass has fallen 9p to 503p.

Furniture group DFS is up 9½p to 400p after crossing the £50m full-year profit mark for the first time.

And LA Fitness is up 11% or 25p to 246p after reassuring the market there is little sign of a slowdown in consumer spending. Its full-year profits were up by 74% as membership continued to grow.