World markets rallied higher today after the boss of the European Central Bank pledged to do “whatever it takes” to keep the euro together.
Hopes of a solution to eurozone debt woes were raised after ECB president Mario Draghi made the resolute comments at a conference in London, suggesting he may restart buying government bonds to ease the pressure on Spain’s borrowing costs.
The FTSE 100 Index leapt 1.4% higher, up 74.8 points at 5,573.2.
In a busy session for corporate updates in London, Rolls-Royce was on the risers after the engine giant reported a 7% rise in underlying profits and said its order book rose 4% to £60.1billion. Shares lifted 7% or 55.5p to 885p.
The firm was joined by ITV, which surged 6% after its 15% jump in half-year underlying profits to £235million more than offset expectations for weaker advertising revenues in July and August.
Shares rose 4.5p to 75.9p, while BSkyB was 21.5p higher at 706.5p after it posted record annual operating profits of £1.2billion.
Royal Dutch Shell was the biggest faller in the top flight however, after the oil giant reported a sharper-than-expected drop in profits. Shares were down 57p at £22.08.
Lloyds Banking Group took an additional £700million hit for mis-selling payment protection insurance, taking shares 0.2p lower to 29.1p.
Meanwhile, the UK’s second-biggest pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca said core pre-tax profits dropped by a quarter to £3.3billion and revenues fell 16% to £9billion. Shares reversed earlier falls to rise 4.5p to 2,913.5p, however.
The biggest Footsie risers included Polymetal International up 62p to 873.5p and Unilever up 116p to £22.56.
Among the biggest Footsie fallers were Admiral off 18p to £11.18, Carnival down 30p to £20.83 and Pennon down 9p to 754.5p.
Barry Shepherd, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted that amongst the day’s risers were Premier Oil, which added 1.76% to 391.85p, Standard Life, which gained 2.44% at 235.5p and Weir Group, which closed 4.23% higher at £16.
Fallers included Plexus Holdings, which finished 0.62% lower at 116.25p.
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