Encouraging signs that a scheme to pump nearly £500billion into the banking sector is helping to ease the eurozone debt crisis drove a rally in world markets today.
London’s FTSE 100 Index rose 59.7 points to 5,931.3, while Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac-40 were both up more than 1%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose close to the 13,000 mark as the London market closed.
Hedge fund Man Group was the biggest riser on the Footsie after it said funds under management increased slightly in the first two months of 2012 to £37.3billion, while it had also seen an improvement in investor sentiment since the end of last year. Shares were up 13%, or 16.6p at 147.5p.
Barclays and HSBC were other big risers, up 6.2p at 251.2p and 13p to 568.3p respectively.
Hargreaves Lansdown was ahead 19.3p at 447.6p, Essar Energy rose 4.5p to 109.4p, and Carnival lifted 72p to £19.20.
Advertising giant WPP rose 3%, or 24p to 827.5p after it posted record £1billion profits and said it expected 4% underlying sales growth this year.
ITV rallied for a second consecutive session after yesterday’s full-year results highlighted progress in the company’s turnaround. Shares were up by another 2.1p to 88p.
Outside the top flight, Cable and Wireless Worldwide jumped 15%, or 4.1p to 32p after India’s Tata Communications said it was evaluating an offer for the group, which has already attracted bid interest from Vodafone.
Travel firm Thomas Cook slipped 20%, or 5.8p to 22.5p after a downgrade from buy to hold by broker Investec Securities.
Embattled retailer Game Group suffered a further fall – down 2%, or 0.1p to 4.8p – after yesterday’s revelations of a bust-up with key supplier Electronic Arts.
The biggest Footsie fallers were Kazakhmys down 47p at £10.62, Weir Group off 76p at £20.30, Polymetal International down 24p at £10.60 and Evraz off 8.7p at £4.15.
Today’s daily market comment noted below –
Steven McKay, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted Parkmead up 8% at 18.625p, Johnston Press adding 5.3% to 7.9p and Standard Life 2% higher at 237.1p, while Petrofac fell 1.2% to £15.72.
