Wall Street gives FTSE a boost

The London market enjoyed a second winning session today after better-than-expected results from Vodafone and a bright start on Wall Street.

The positive news from the telecoms giant saw its share price rise more than 7%, while strong third-quarter profits from the world’s biggest retailer, Wal-mart, buoyed investor sentiment in the US.

After trading in negative territory for much of the session the FTSE 100 Index closed 24.5 points higher at 6362.4, continuing progress made yesterday.

London’s blue chips had been under early pressure after the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s first close below 13,000 since August overnight, but the Footsie took a late lead from the Dow, which gained more than 130 points in early trading.

Lower oil prices also helped to settle nerves on reports that the Opec oil cartel would consider lifting production levels at its December meeting.

Among blue chips, Vodafone’s move to lift full year revenue guidance sent the stock soaring 13.7p to 195.7p, making it the top Footsie riser.

Fellow telecoms firm Cable & Wireless lent support earlier in the session but finished 2.9p lower at 177.1p despite forecast beating results.

Daily Mail & General Trust also made strong gains after Merrill Lynch initiated coverage of the newspaper group with a buy rating. Shares responded with a gain of 5%, or 31p to 592p.

Wal-Mart’s positive figures meanwhile gave a late boost to retailers, with Morrisons ahead 10.75p to 276.5p – also helped by market share gains – while Tesco gained 12p to 482p.

Banks were enjoying a continued rally after strong gains yesterday as investors put aside credit crunch fears. Barclays rose 14p to 527p as traders eyed value in the stock following recent heavy falls.

Royal Bank of Scotland was also up, with a gain of 18p to 457.75p, although HSBC was down 6.5p at 842.5p amid fears of sub-prime writedowns in a trading update tomorrow.

Heavily-weighted mining stocks dominated the fallers board, with companies in the sector giving back gains seen in previous sessions.

Takeover target Rio Tinto set the pace with a drop of 268p to 5390p, while Lonmin fell 78p to 3077p and Vedanta Resources slipped 49p to 1887p.

British Energy shares endured another difficult session after it said the second half of its financial year would be “significantly impacted” by problems at two of its sites. Shares were off 12.5p, or 2%, at 505p, despite half-year earnings growth.

Elsewhere, Northern Foods, which makes Goodfella’s pizza and Fox’s biscuits, fell almost 2%, or 2p, to 98.25p despite results largely in line with expectations.

Citigroup cautioned it was “only a matter of time before gravity comes to bear on market estimates” for the group.

The biggest Footsie risers were Vodafone up 13.7p at 195.7p, Daily Mail & General Trust ahead 31p at 592p, DSG International up 5.9p at 120.8p and Royal Bank of Scotland ahead 18p at 457.75p.

The biggest fallers were Rio Tinto down 268p at 5930p, Icap off 23p at 597.5p, International Power down 17.25p at 468p and Barratt Developments off 17.5p at 508p.