THE London market ended the week on a bright note, rising for the third session on the trot despite the release of bearish jobs data from the United States.
Led by banks and miners, the benchmark FTSE 100 Index closed 17.1 points, or 0.3 per cent
, higher at 5,142.7, for a weekly gain of 2 per cent – its best weekly performance for a month.
Data from across the Atlantic showed the US unemployment rate had jumped to 10.2 per cent, the highest in more than 26 years, as employers shed 190,000 jobs in October. The UK market initially turned negative on the numbers, while Wall Street opened lower and the dollar rose as investors turned risk averse.
However, as investors began to digest the news, US markets recovered ground and the greenback retreated.
Jimmy Yates, head of equities at CMC Markets, said: "The first move lower was overdone. Both the UK and US markets are trading within ranges at this time.
"The support levels were tested and they held. There's some volatility but still a lot of money waiting on the sidelines," he added, highlighting thin volumes.
British Airways rose 12.5p or nearly 7 per cent to 198.8p as cost-cutting progress overshadowed a worse than expected interim pre-tax loss of £292 million.
Investors also overlooked more hefty operating losses at Royal Bank of Scotland, at £1.53 billion in the third quarter, to send its shares up 1.85p to 37.06p.
Analysts were encouraged that the Edinburgh-based institution had seen signs of "plateauing" bad debt charges despite a further £3.2bn impairment hit in the third quarter.
Another turnaround story, Rentokil Initial, fell 6 per cent or 7p to 105p in spite of narrowing losses at its troubled City Link arm.
The pest control company delivered third-quarter figures slightly ahead of expectations, but analysts at Numis Securities warned there was still much to be done in terms of restructuring and said that the shares seemed to have gone too far.
Among other companies reporting figures yesterday, FTSE 250 sugar and ingredients group Tate & Lyle, rose 7.6p to 464.5p after it reported first-half trading slightly ahead of its expectations.
Pre-tax profits fell to £50m, but analysts were impressed by a 15 per cent rise in sales volumes of Splenda sucralose.
Back in the top flight, a decent session for financial stocks was offset by a poorer showing from major oil and gas shares.
Barclays and HSBC – both expected to report much healthier results next week than part- nationalised counterparts RBS and Lloyds Banking Group – added 4.15p to 336.5p and 13.8p to 683.3p respectively.
Hedge fund specialist Man Group, meanwhile, cheered 1 per cent or 4.7p to 329.5p, as investors bought in after Thursday's better than expected numbers.
On the fallers board, oil giant BP lost 3.2p to 583.9p and rival Royal Dutch Shell was 12p lighter at 1,754.5p despite the cost of crude edging higher towards some $80 a barrel.
Mobile phone giant Vodafone was down 1.65p at 135.8p before its first-half results next week, expected to show a modest rise in earnings to £5.9bn.
Gold, which is often used by investors as an alternative to the dollar, surged to a record high above $1,100 per ounce, helping to lift London-listed mining issues.
Antofagasta, up 1.6 per cent to 853.5p, was also helped by a Citigroup upgrade to "buy", while Rio Tinto, Eurasian Natural Resources, Xstrata and Kazakhmys added between 0.5 and 2 per cent.
