FTSE recovers 28 points

The FTSE 100 Index returned to winning ways today after a bumper session for corporate results fuelled the market’s new-found confidence.

Lending growth from Abbey’s Spanish owner Santander and stronger-than-expected results from Dairy Milk firm Cadbury were among positives for investors.

The Footsie suffered its first loss in 12 sessions last night, but recovered 28 points to 4556.9 by mid-morning today.

Further signs that the housing market may have reached the bottom, following mortgage approval figures from the Bank of England, also helped confidence.

Banks were among stocks on the front foot, with Royal Bank of Scotland ahead 3% or 1.5p at 43.5p and Lloyds Banking Group up 1.8p at 83p. The improvement came after Santander said UK pre-tax profits rose by more than 30% as it reported improving conditions in lending and bad debts.

A broker upgrade helped fund manager Schroders leap to near the top of the Footsie chart, with a rise of more than 4%, up 41.5p to 950.5p.

Meanwhile Cadbury saw gains after it reported underlying half year pre-tax profits of £262 million, up 11% at constant currency rates on a year earlier.

It also raised its margins guidance for the second half, while sweet-toothed consumers in the UK have helped it offset difficult conditions elsewhere. Shares were 1p higher at 565.5p after a strong start.

The results season also benefited a number of second-tier stocks, with car dealership Inchcape up 10% or 2.5p to 25p after beating expectations with a half-year profits fall of 58% at constant currency rates.

Low-cost airline easyJet was also higher, up 10p at 287.75p, after predicting it would be one of the few operators to make a profit this year.

Meanwhile, Halfords said sales were boosted by strong demand in cycling, camping and travel equipment. The firm experienced an uncertain session as shares surrendered a positive start to fall 10p to 287.75p.