FTSE peaks at five-year high

London’s leading shares powered to a new five-year high today as investors remained in bullish mood despite the drag of big mining stocks.

The Footsie drifted around its opening mark for most of the day, but raced to the finish with a late rally as Wall Street also opened with a flourish.

It meant the FTSE 100 Index managed to polish off the session 16.4 points stronger at 6182.5 – it’s highest level since February 2001.

The top performer was household cleaning goods company Reckitt Benckiser, which raised its full-year profits forecast as it enjoyed a boost from a string of new products.

The Slough-based business said sales climbed 17% to £1.24 billion during the third quarter, which prompted a rethink on its full year targets. Investors cheered the optimistic outlook and shares rose 124p – almost 6% – to 2324p.

Oil stocks were on the rise although the market was feeling the impact of losses in the mining sector as the price of metals eased.

Shares in BP lifted 6.5p to 608p as its fall in third quarter profits was no worse than analysts expected, while rival Royal Dutch Shell was up 17p to 1827p despite shrivelling crude prices.

But it was the mining stocks which dominated the blue chip fallers board as Kazakhmys lost 16p to 1213p and BHP Billiton fell 6p to 1014p.

Also in retreat was Anglo American which appointed its first woman chief executive today in American Cynthia Carroll. She became only the third female boss of a FTSE 100 company, but it was not enough to stop Anglo shares falling 36p to 2379p.

In the second tier, floor coverings retailer Carpetright lifted 25p to 1183p after it said 60 new store openings had helped it increase first half sales by 6% in the UK and Ireland. In the rest of Europe total sales grew 9% due to a strong performance in Belgium and the Netherlands.

And department store Debenhams lifted 8.25p to 187.75p after it reported a 70% hike in profits. In its first full-year results since returning to the stock market in May, Debenhams said pre-tax profits rose to £112.8 million for the year to September 2.

The upbeat figures from Debenhams were welcomed across the wider retail sector with Marks & Spencer cheering 8.5p to 656p, B&Q owner Kingfisher up 4.5p to 260p and Next bouncing 19p to 1862p.

Meanwhile, the rollercoaster ride continued for PartyGaming after a broker pointed to the firm’s Party Poker site and its impressive European market share. The stock rose 2p – more than 7% – to 29p. Rival 888 was also on the up, this time by 2.25p to 96p.

But engineering group Balfour Beatty was in retreat by 2.25p to 404.5p, despite news of a £550 million contract win from National Grid to upgrade the electricity network in eastern England.

The day’s biggest blue chip gainers were Reckitt Benckiser up 124p to 2324p, Reuters up 11p to 453p, Tate & Lyle up 17.5p to 772p and WPP Group up 13.5p to 683.5p.

The day’s biggest blue chip losers were British Energy down 15.5p to 422p, Cairn Energy down 35p to 1850p, Anglo American down 36p to 2379p and Kazakhmys down 16p to 1213p.