London shares keep climbing

London shares have continued climbing, boosted by a strong performance from the US markets.

By the close of trading, the FTSE 100 Index of leading shares was up 36.3 points at 5369.8, after reaching a mid-afternoon high of 5411.2.

The spurt comes on top of a strong 2.3% hike yesterday as tech stocks leapt ahead, and makes it the third consecutive day the Footsie has posted a rise.

In London, insurance stocks were among the biggest risers after Morgan Stanley upped its rating on the sector to outperform.

Prudential jumped 4%, up 32p at 816p, Royal & Sun Alliance rose 18p to 417p, CGNU lifted 28½p at 870p and Legal & General surged 6¾p to 161¼p.

Telecoms were also making gains, with Vodafone ahead 3¼p to 193¼p, mobile phone group mmO2 up 5% or 4½p at 91½p and Cable & Wireless lifting 4p to 359¾p.

Retailers were ahead, with Great Universal Stores up 25p at 668p, Next rising 36p at 951p, Marks & Spencer up 13p at 363p and Kingfisher 13½p ahead at 395p.

However, defensive stocks such as oils, pharmaceuticals and tobacco firms were on the back foot.

Shell slipped 9½p to 482p, BP fell 3½p to 528½p, GlaxoSmithKline was off 15p at £17.80 and Celltech fell 11p to 944p, while British American Tobacco was down 6½p at 554½p.

Among those reporting results today, hotels group Six Continents climbed 31p to 734½p after posting full-year numbers in line with analyst estimates.

The group, formerly known as Bass, has been hit hard by the fall-out from the September 11 attacks and saw profits tumble from £1.99 billion to £690 million.

The biggest Footsie risers were EMI up 29½p at 359½p, mmO2 up 4½p at 91½p, Royal & Sun Alliance up 18p at 417p and Six Continents up 31p at 734½p.

Fallers were BSkyB down 43p at 893p, Sage down 11¼p at 254¾p, South African Breweries down 12p at 453p and Compass down 13p at 505p.