The FTSE 100 Index moved back above the 6,500 mark today thanks to a shares rally from retailers.
London’s blue chip index closed 47.9 points or 0.7% higher at 6,529.4 as investors cheered recovery efforts at Morrisons and Argos owner Home Retail Group.
Morrisons was one of the top flight’s biggest risers, up 2% or 4.6p to 276.2p, despite a 7% drop in profits to £879million following a disappointing year for the retailer.
Elsewhere, Tesco was 10.4p higher at 386p and Marks & Spencer improved 12.6p to 371.6p.
Outside the top flight, Argos owner Home Retail Group surged 12% or 16p to 148.9p after it said full-year profits would be around £90million.
Trinity Mirror shares plunged by more than a fifth in a difficult session for the publisher as police investigating allegations of phone-hacking arrested four current or former journalists at Mirror Group Newspapers, while annual results also revealed a sharp drop in full-year profits. The stock was 24.75p lower at 95.5p, off 21%.
The biggest FTSE 100 risers included Aggreko up 126p to £19.65, BT ahead 11.6p to 277.4p and CRH up 52p to £15.40.
The biggest FTSE 100 fallers were Carnival down 55p to £24.30, Rio Tinto off 66p to £33.11, Evraz 4.7p lower at 246.3p and Fresnillo 27p lower at £14.57.
Barry Shepherd, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted SSE added 1% to £14.70, Stagecoach gained 1.4% to 306.1p and EnQuest finished 1.5% higher at 139.75p.
Fallers included Wood Group, which shed 0.4% to 865.5p, while Weir Group lost 1.2% to £24.41 and STV closed 2.8% lower at 141p.