London market continues recovery

The London market continued to bounce back today, jumping towards the 4,300 level after sentiment was helped by a positive close on Wall Street last night.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to end the session ahead - breaking seven sessions of consecutive losses as bargain hunters moved in.

Upbeat earnings from a number of US companies also helped Wall Street to a good finish.

The mood spilled over to London and after an hour’s trading the FTSE 100 Index bounced 72.7 points to 4263.3. The gains add to the 168.7 point jump yesterday.

Tom Hougaard, trader at City Index, said: ‘‘There is a real concerted effort now to stabilise the markets.’’

He added that it was inevitable the US markets were going to bounce back at some point after falling for so long.

Telecoms and banks were again helping drive today’s rise in London.

MmO2 pleased investors with 292,000 customers signed up in the last quarter and above-forecast ARPU (average revenue per user) figures. Shares rose 5%, up 2½p to 49p.

Vodafone rose 3¼p to 99¾p, BT was up 7¼p at 245½p and Cable & Wireless gained 5¾p to 174½p.

Northern Rock, which today reported a 16% hike in profits and record net lending figures, rose 2%, up 13p to 643p.

Other banks posting gains were Barclays, up 20p at 495p, Standard Chartered up 25½p at 676p, HBOS up 13½p at 621p, Royal Bank of Scotland rising 45p at £16.45 and Abbey National up 12p at 702p.

Among the second-tier stocks, software firm Misys soared 12% as it announced it would float its independent financial adviser business within two years. Shares rose 19¾p at 200¾p.