FTSE jumps and continues Wednesday rally

FTSE 100 jumps

FTSE continues to rally at start of week

The FTSE 100 share index soared to a 14-month high early this morning rising at the start of the week for a fifth consecutive session.
FTSE 100 continues rally

The FTSE 100 rose 0.22 per cent to 4,767.24 by 09:00 BST, continuing yesterday's rally after a shaky start.

Thursday, 04 December 2008 09:30

After spending much of Wednesday in the doldrums, traders in London this morning continued a last minute rally from last night, ahead of an expected Bank of England interest rate cut.

At 9:13 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 1.28 per cent - or 53.46 points - to 4,223.42.

This followed a 2.05 per cent jump on the Dow in New York last night - again largely posted after a last ditch rally.

In London there was a mixed bag of winners and losers.

Experian was up 6.38 per cent - despite announcing job losses - while builders merchant Wolseley gained 5.74 per cent.

Commodity stocks BG Group and Eurasian rose 5.19 per cent and 5.02 per cent respectively, while Guinness-brewer Diageo gained 4.69 per cent

3i dropped 4.35 per cent, while Invensys was down 2.62 per cent.

London Stock Exchange continued its recent travails with a 2.51 per cent fall.

On the currency markets sterling was up a touch after large falls overnight.

£1 is now worth $1.45 and ?1.15, making ?1 worth 0.86p.