Footsie leaps to 18-month high

SHARES in London hit their highest in 18 months yesterday after US jobless data eased concerns about prospects for the world's biggest economy.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index jumped above the psychologically-important 5,600 barrier several times during the session – a level not breached since September 2008.

But London's top flight was unable to maintain the mark and ended the day up 1.3 per cent, or 72.6 points, at 5,599.8.

Second-tier stocks did better, with the FTSE 250 index up 109.43 points at 9,774.72 by the time stumps were pulled at 4.30pm.

Traders said shares got a tailwind after data showing US unemployment trod water at a rate of 9.7 per cent in February as employers shed 36,000 jobs. That was far fewer than expected.

The Dow Jones index on Wall Street was ahead 0.8 per cent by late trading in London. David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said: "Friday saw UK shares continue the rally that has been in place since early February, but it was the latest US unemployment numbers that really set the markets in motion today."

Ironically, the US dollar dropped on the news, meaning the pound rose above the $1.50 mark after sterling's recent battering. A lower dollar boosted commodity companies such as miners, which sell product in the US currency.

In the Footsie, Xstrata was up 62.5p at 1,187p, Fresnillo up 34p at 846.5p and BHP Billiton up 80.5p to 2,207p.

Fund manager Schroders topped the FTSE leaders' board for the second day running after reporting strong asset inflows on Thursday. Shares in the London- headquartered group climbed 86p to 1396p.

Glasgow-based Aggreko, the temporary power provider that also reported strong 2009 results on Thursday, hit a record high of 1,049p, climbing 9p.

After the market closed, Scottish-based Forth Ports put out a statement saying that it had received two conditional takeover proposals from a consortium. Its shares had closed up 17p at 1,117p.

Financial shares generally were higher, as sentiment towards the sector warmed after a better-than-expected recent results reporting season.

Asian-facing Standard Chartered climbed 60p to 1,760.5p, while part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland rose 0.6p to 39.9p and Barclays lifted 8.3p to 341.4p.

Elsewhere, advertising and marketing giant WPP climbed 3 per cent after it reported a smaller-than-expected decline in annual profits but cautioned that recovery in its key markets would be pedestrian. Shares were up 21.5p to 645.5p.

Shares in United Business Media jumped 7 per cent, or 30.6p, to 494p, after annual profits of 165 million beat market expectations and as news of a settlement on outstanding tax payments removed uncertainty.

Also in the sector, shares in Informa, a provider of specialist information to the academic and scientific communities, climbed 11.7p to 374.2p.

Recruitment specialist Michael Page International shed 3 per cent, or 10p, to 385p after it confirmed the impact of a tough recession on the group.

Pre-tax profits for 2009 plunged 85 per cent, although the group said there were signs of greater recruitment activity.

In the UK, banks, sales departments and IT were all hiring, Michael Page said, with the group receiving twice the number of recruitment assignments for banks last month compared with a year earlier.

Transport group Arriva slipped 10.5p to 559.5p as it said talks with SNCF, France's national rail operator, had ended over a potential deal for all or part of Keolis, 44.5 per cent owned by SNCF.