Footsie closes above 5,000 level
The FTSE 100 Index survived one or two wobbles during the session to stay above September 11 levels, closing ahead 19.8 points at 5036.0.
Even US jobless data, showing the biggest fall in employment for ten years, failed to knock the Footsie off course although the London market did fall back from its lunchtime position of 60 points ahead.
Today's gains mean the blue-chip index has put on more than 250 points in the past four days, reflecting the optimism among investors.
A number of market heavyweights fuelled the rise, with BT 6p better off at 369p, GlaxoSmithKline climbing 14p to £19.05 and AstraZeneca picking up 40p at £13.75.
High-street banks also fared well, with Royal Bank of Scotland up 40p at £15.90, Barclays rising 11p to £19.65 and HBoS edging up 15p to 770p.
Elsewhere, media stocks were recovering from recent losses with Pearson up 58p to 723p, United Business Media ahead 28p at 390p and Granada up 4p to 114p.
And Rolls-Royce is up 8%, or 11¼p at 146¼p, despite concerns about its exposure to the crisis in the airline industry.
BP and Shell had a mixed session, however, losing earlier gains to fall 3p and 11p to 561p and 513p respectively.
British Airways is still suffering, falling 10½p to 155p, as fears over the impact of the US terrorist attack continued to mount..
Retailers were also on the slide with supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury's off 4p to 256p and 11p to 363p respectively.
