Vodafone rise helps charge FTSE 100

The benchmark FTSE 100 share index headed back towards its 2013 highs, ending the day up 78.92 points or 1.2 per cent at 6,490.66. That saw it approach the 6,533.99 level reached in March, which was this year’s intra-day high and its highest level since January 2008.

Blue-chip heavyweight Vodafone rose 2.9 per cent to 192p after the Financial Times’ Alphaville blog cited “usually reliable people” as saying that United States partner Verizon Communications, and AT&T, had been working together on a multi-billion pound break-up bid for the mobile network giant.

Vodafone’s shares are up by some 20 per cent in 2013 on persistent M&A talk. Its weighting accounts for around 6 per cent of the entire FTSE 100.

Brenda Kelly, market analyst at IG, said: “The UK’s blue-chip index was bolstered by M&A news, with Vodafone topping the benchmark on reports that a break-up bid was being planned by Verizon Communications and AT&T. As copper prices trade near a seven-month low on global growth concerns, and gold has fallen 1.3 per cent on the day, the mining sector has declined in sympathy.”

Vodafone’s gains helped the market shrug off more economic gloom as the latest report from the manufacturing sector suggested it contracted overall in the first quarter, while Bank of England data revealed mortgage approvals slipped to a five-month low in February.

EasyJet was the biggest climber on the FTSE 100 index, gaining 4.4 per cent ahead of an update on trading due on Friday. Shares in the airline rose 48p to close at 1,128p.

NEW YORK: The S&P 500 index neared its all-time high, while the dollar rallied from a one-month low against the yen on bets the Bank of Japan will announce further monetary easing this week.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 89.16 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 14,662.01. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 8.08 points to 1,570.2.

Gold fell to a 2½-week low, pressured by the strengthening dollar and as investors moved away from safe havens and bought stocks.