Healthy gains for London shares

London shares posted healthy gains today as investors showed few nerves ahead of key announcements from central banks in the UK and US later this week.

The FTSE 100 Index jumped 72.9 points or 1.4% to 5405.3, recovering all of Friday’s deficit when weaker-than-expected US non-farm payroll figures offset Royal Bank of Scotland’s decent contribution to the week’s banking results.