London’s leading shares index ended the week on a high today as fresh evidence of growth in the US boosted traders’ confidence.
The FTSE 100 Index closed 24.9 points ahead at 5,965.6 after American factories stepped up production in February for the third straight month, driving the best job growth since the recession ended.
The upbeat mood boosted banking shares in London, with Royal Bank of Scotland near the top of the risers’ board after it benefited from a broker upgrade. It rose 6%, or 1.7p to 28.1p.
Lloyds Banking Group jumped 1p to 37.5p, while Barclays added 4.8p to £2.54.
The encouraging picture of the US economy triggered a rally in the demand-sensitive resources sector, with miner Rio Tinto up 31p at 3,578.5p, Eurasian Natural Resources ahead 6.5p at £6.84 and Anglo American adding 36.5p at £26.18.
Retailers were given a boost by strong weekly sales at John Lewis and Waitrose last week. Marks and Spencer rose 2%, or 5.9p to £3.81 and Next added 34p to £29.35.
Oil and gas firms had a mixed session despite a slight rebound in crude prices. BP was down 0.5%, or 2.6p at 490.2p after losing 1% yesterday and Royal Dutch Shell was off 15p at £22.85 after recovering most of its early losses.
The Footsie’s biggest risers included Essar Energy up 11.3p at 124.9p, Icap ahead 19.3p at 431.5p and Tullow Oil ahead 57p at £15.28.
Among the bigger fallers were Polymetal International down 33.5p at 961.5p, Randgold Resources off £1.60 at £64.90, Resolution down 5.2p at 278.8p and GKN off 2.4p at 217.2p.
Outside the top flight, travel firm Thomas Cook was up 5%, or 1.3p to 24p after reports it had knocked back a proposed deal from two industry veterans to inject £400million into the business and raise more cash through a rights issue. The shares are still a fraction of their £1.60 price a year ago.
Argos parent Home Retail Group enjoyed a 2.5% boost after brokers at HSBC upgraded the stock. Shares rose 2.9p to 116.9p.
Alan MacPhee, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted Irn-Bru firm A.G. Barr rising 4.45% to £12.44 and Hunting adding 4.09% to 968.25p.
SSE fell 0.83% to £13.20, STV Group shed 0.68% to 107.5p and Premier Oil slipped 0.66% to 419.05p.
