Footsie up on strong US figures

The FTSE 100 Index finished clear of the 4300 barrier today as strong US economic figures drove stock markets around the world higher.

After a subdued start to the session, the Footsie drew encouragement from Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial average was up around 115 points as trading in London finished.

London’s benchmark index ended the session up 45.3 points at 4313.9, just short of its recent year-high and more than 220 points above its level just nine days ago when it slipped below the 4100 mark.

Today’s strong close takes the Footsie back to levels seen three weeks ago before fears over the impact of higher oil prices on the economic recovery hit the mood.

Today’s surge on Wall Street was driven by renewed hopes of sustained recovery after encouraging figures on the US jobs market.

The London market had also earlier drawn encouragement from the Bank of England’s decision to keep interest rates on hold at 3.5% – a 48-year low.

With markets rising, media stocks were back in fashion. Global information group Reuters headed the Footsie risers up 5% or 11.5p at 242.5p, while BSkyB recovered ground lost in the last few days, rising 20.5p at 635p.

There were also fresh gains for healthcare group Amersham, as investors continued to buy into the stock following news of a takeover approach.

Amersham rose 16% yesterday and added another 19p today to stand at 660p – an 18 month high for the company.

Other upward moves came from the banking sector where heavyweight HSBC climbed 12.5p to 855.5p, while rival Royal Bank of Scotland rose 14p to 1628p and HBOS gained 12.5p to 727.5p.

Elsewhere Barclays, which made the headlines today with the appointment of chief executive Matt Barrett as chairman, stood 4.25p higher at 509.75p.

But pubs group Mitchells & Butlers fell back from an earlier gain after it announced plans to return £100 million more than expected to shareholders.

The promise of a 65p-a-share dividend initially lifted the stock by 3% before it fell back to close 1p lower at 230p.

Outside the top flight, the spate of retail trading updates continued, with JD Sports owner John David Group falling 2.5p to 160p after announcing a fall into the red at the half-year stage.

John David was joined on the way down by DFS – the biggest FTSE 250 faller - as the furniture store group warned that profits for the full-year were likely to be flat because of a toughening market. Shares slipped 5%, or 21.5p, to 383.5p.

In contrast to yesterday’s positive session for the retail sector, Austin Reed also fell 1p to 146p after half-year profits fell 59% to £1.1 million.

The biggest Footsie risers were Reuters up 11.5p at 242.5p, BHP Billiton up 20p at 451.75p, Xstrata up 18.5p at 520.5p and WPP up 19.5p at 554.5p.

The main fallers were Marks & Spencer down 6.5p at 297p, Royal & Sun Alliance down 1.75p at 86.25p, Compass down 6.5p at 349.75p and Centrica down 2.5p at 186.75p.