US’s FTSE soars as banks,miners rally

The FTSE 100 index closed up 155.67 points,or 3.1 percent,at 5,162.83,having swung sharply through over 230 points between a session high of 5,172.6 and low of 4,943.01.

The index had dropped 3.1 percent to its lowest close since July 6 on Wednesday,having shed over 14 percent in the past week.

Banks were the main source of the index’s volatility,as sentiment for the sector oscillated wildly on concerns over the stability of European lenders in the face of the global debt and growth crisis.

Barclays was the top blue-chip gainer,jumping 8.6 percent,recouping a similar-sized fall on Wednesday as bargain hunters poured in to support the badly beaten-down stock.

Global banking heavyweight HSBC also lent the sector its strength,up 3.8 percent,while emerging markets-focused Standard Chartered put on 2.6 percent.

If the market is concerned about bank funding … the best places to be in are HSBC and Standard Chartered,RBS said in a note on the European banking sector.

The U.S. blue-chip index was up more than 2.5 percent by London’s close,also led higher by hard-pressed financial issues,and helped by above-forecast weekly jobless claims,which fell to four-month lows.

MIGHTY MINERS

Miners were also strong performers in London,with Antofagasta standing out,up 6.5 percent,as base metal prices bounced back,helped by news that China’s copper imports rose 9.5 percent to a six-month high in July.

Gold ,however,slid back from record highs as investors cashed in some of the previous session’s near 3 percent gains,weighed by a move by CME Group to hike margins for trading gold futures in an attempt to arrest their strength.

Randgold Resources was the only FTSE 100 faller,shedding 3.1 percent after recent strong gains.

Away from the top two sectors,ARM Holdings jumped 6.4 percent,boosted by a Goldman Sachs upgrade and as tech issues in New York benefited from reassuring revenue forecasts from Cisco Systems .

Volumes for the FTSE 100 index were strong,at 162 percent of the 90-day average.

We have seen record trading activity from our customers over the past week,with overall trading volumes up 140 percent on the previous week,said Darren Hepworth,Trading and Customer Services Director at TD Waterhouse,Britain’s leading execution-only stockbroker.

In the week ending Tuesday,9 August,buy trades outnumbered sells by almost 3:1 having increased by nearly 150 percent on the previous week,Hepworth added.