Wednesday market close: Footsie surge sees month end on a high

Sainsbury's benefited from a profit upgrade. Picture: TSPL

THE LONDON market surged 2.6 per cent higher after a profit upgrade from supermarket Sainsbury’s and gains from hard-hit miner Glencore, but still slid to its worst quarterly fall in four years.

The FTSE 100 Index added 152.37 points to 6,061.61 - after losing 200 points over the previous two sessions - amid a global market fight-back as equity volatility shows no sign of abating.

Markets rose overnight on Wall Street and Asia, with Europe following suit. In London there was only one faller in the top flight.

But experts said global markets had hit their worst quarterly performance for four years after a lengthy rout that started in August as fears emerged over China’s slowing economy.

The top flight is 7 per cent down compared to the previous quarter, its sharpest fall since September 2011.

In London, the rally was also helped by economic cheer as the latest national accounts figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the UK economy emerged from recession more strongly than previously thought.

But Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, asked: “Gains have been both broad based and significant, but the question now has to be just how sustainable is this?”

Scottish energy giant SSE was one of the biggest gainers after a bullish update, lifting 4 per cent or 59p to 1,496p.