FTSE bounces back on upbeat results

Britain's top share index closed higher yesterday, reversing Monday's losses and boosted by results from Barclays, Schroders and Associated British Foods, owner of the fast-growing Primark fashion chain.

The benchmark FTSE 100 closed up 25.23 points, or just over 0.4 per cent, at 5,875.19, after closing down 0.4 per cent during the week's opening session.

The Footsie is up 8.5 per cent this year and has recovered some 23 per cent since hitting a year's low on 1 July. Some analysts see the index attacking the 6,000 level before the year is out.

Yusuf Heusen, senior sales trader at IG Index, said: "After a lacklustre start to the trading week on Monday, markets seem to have woken up again and look poised to set further gains as the week goes on.

"Wednesday morning sees the release of the Bank of England's latest quarterly report, and while this has the potential to add volatility to early trading in London, traders are still eyeing up the 6,000 mark as the next objective for the blue-chip index."

In currency news, the pound eased back after recent strength. Sterling fell to $1.60.

Banking giant Barclays was prominent on the risers' board, up 4 per cent or 11.4p to 297p, after better-than-expected third-quarter results as lower bad debts helped it offset a fall in profits at its investment banking division. Comments from the bank also appeared to ease concerns that it will have to raise additional capital due to new regulatory requirements.

Investment firm Schroders soared to the top of the London market, up 87p at 1,667p, after posting pre-tax profits of 282 million in the first nine months of its financial year, while gold giant Randgold Resources followed with a gain of 275p to 6,265p after posting Q3 pre-tax profits of $31.7m (19m).

Embattled blue chip stock Rolls-Royce failed to maintain its shares fightback today, slipping 0.5p to 606.5p in late session trading.

The group - under pressure after the failure of one of its engines on a Qantas superjumbo last week - had initially been boosted by news of an order in China worth $1.2 billion.

Rolls-Royce gained 3 per cent on Monday after it released a statement saying it was close to finding the cause of its engine failure that caused the Qantas flight to make an emergency landing.

Mobile phone group Vodafone also lost earlier gains, down 1p to 174p.The market had been cheered earlier by an upgrade of its full-year earnings guidance due to revenues growth across all its regions, but shares lost momentum.

Marks & Spencer shares dropped 2 per cent or 7.2p to 406p after investors were left underwhelmed by recently appointed chief executive Marc Bolland's strategy of "evolution not revolution".

This overshadowed the retail chain's 17 per cent rise in half-year profits to 348.6m for the 26 weeks to 2 October.

Primark-owner Associated British Foods, which also published results, recovered from earlier falls to stand 34p higher at 1,107p.

Pre-tax profits in the year to September rose 26 per cent on an underlying basis to 825m - beating analyst expectations.