By Simon Kennedy
U.K. shares jumped higher in the final session of the week, with
banks and insurance stocks leading a broad-based rise.
Among banking stocks, Barclays (BCS) rose 6.8% and Lloyds
Banking Group (LYG) climbed around 5%.
In the insurance sector, Old Mutual added 6% and Prudential
gained 4.3%.
More broadly, the main U.K. FTSE 100 Index climbed 1.7%, or
61.85 points, to 3,773.91.
Financial stocks helped drive gains of between 3.5% and 4.1% on
the main U.S. indexes Thursday after Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis
said the group will post a profit in 2009 and won't need further
government funding.
Among other sectors, mining stocks moved higher and drugmakers
also gained, with AstraZeneca (AZN) up 1.7% and GlaxoSmithKline up
1.3%.
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon climbed 10.3% in early trading after it
announced that comparable sales in the six weeks to March 8 rose
1.9% and total sales rose 5.6%.
Profit in the six months to Jan. 26 was down 5.5%, but revenue
for the period was around 6.5% higher.
Shares in rival pub operator and brewer Greene King climbed
around 4%.
SABMiller climbed 2.5% after it announced that its CR Snow joint
venture in China has agreed to acquire the brewing assets of
Shangdong Hupo Brewery in a $42 million deal.
Outside the top index, shares in Irish media group Independent
News & Media surged around 50% after the newspaper publisher
said CEO Anthony O'Reilly will retire on May 7.
Anthony O'Reilly is the largest shareholder in the firm -- which
publishes The Independent newspaper in the U.K. -- with a 28.5%
stake. He will be succeeded by Gavin O'Reilly, currently chief
operating officer.