FTSE makes strong gains

END-OF-DAY REPORT: Headlines shares made strong gains, the broad-based rally gathering pace in the afternoon as Wall Street headed sharply higher, with Cable & Wireless Worldwide again heading the blue chip leaderboard.

At the close of business, the FTSE100 was up 141.19 points at 5,366.41 with the FTSE250 ahead 235.75 points at 10,060.89 and the FTSE Smallcaps 28.89 points better at 2,815.58.

NEW YORK

US stocks were sharply higher in late morning action after an unexpected climb in manufacturing activity.

Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 243 points at 10,257, the S&P500 rose 28 points at 1,078 and the Nasdaq Composite added 59 points at 2,173.

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LONDON MARKETS

Entering September, a notoriously difficult month for investors, trade in London was confident and positive, despite a worse-than-expected PMI Manufacturing reading for August, and gathered pace as US markets bounded higher in morning trade.

The miners had a successful session, with Kazakhmys the best of them, up 80p at 1,236p. Copper miner Antofagasta gained 62p at 1,094p, Rio Tinto improved 201p at 3,501p and Xstrata added 62.5p at 1,088.5p.

BHP Billiton, whose hostile approach for Potash Corporation becomes more acrimonious by the day, climbed 71.5p at 1,903p.

Oil producers rallied as crude rebounded above the $74 a barrel level, with Shell ahead 52p at 1,720.5p and BP up 8.15p at 388.75p.

The leisure industry was well represented on the gainers list, with Thomson Holidays operator TUI Travel gaining 9.5p at 216.4p, despite trading ex-dividend, and Holiday Inn owner InterContinental Hotel Group rising 29.47p at 1,043p, while Whitbread jumped 42.5p at 1,461p.

DIY retailers were on the shopping list, with B&Q owner Kingfisher ticking up 7.9p at 212.4p and Homebase parent Home Retail Group up 5.2p at 223.8p. Midcap Travis Perkins, which runs the Wickes outlets, rose 32p at 794p.

Supermarket operators recovered from early weakness to trade firmly higher, with Tesco up 8.95p at 415.9p and Sainsbury 4.6p better at 369.8p.

However, the best blue chip performance of the day came from telecoms group Cable & Wireless, up 5.15p at 71.95p, as its recent good run continued.

Other notable gainers included cigarette maker BAT, ahead 75p at 2,291p, marketing giant WPP Group, up 29.5p at 675.5p, and satellite operator Inmarsat, 31.5p higher at 700.5p.

The sole blue chip loser was Randgold Resources, which slipped 70p at 6,010p, as gold eased to $1,245 an ounce.