Economics / Markets

The FTSE rose 1.53%, or 97.4 points, to 6446.5 this afternoon as Vedanta Resources rose 6.71%, or 147 points, to 2339p following rumours the mining company will receive a takeover bid.

The FTSE 100 is surging ahead this morning led again by boisterous blue chips, up 61.8 points, or 0.97%, to 6410.9 so far.

Mining stocks continued recent their stellar form in London trading today, leading the FTSE 100 to a 42.9 point gain, or 0.68%, to 6349.1.

The FTSE rose 0.65%, or 40.7 points, to 6346.9p this morning as Alliance & Leicester rose 10.39%, or 66 points, to 701.5p after saying it has enough funding to see through to the third quarter of next year.

The FTSE fell 0.28%, or 17.5 points, this morning to 6123.2p after building materials distributor Wolsley reported a 15% fall in quarterly pretax profits and said it would cut 3,000 jobs following the US housing market crisis.

The FTSE fell 0.64%, or 39.8 points to 6140.7p this afternoon as Vedanta Resources fell 3.94%, or 81 points, to 1975p following its ban from mining in the Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi, India.

Banks filed in behind Northern Rock at the top of the FTSE winners leaderboard this morning, but could not prevent the index dropping.

The FTSE fell 0.81%, or 50.6 points, today to 6211.5p after The Observer reported Alliance & Leicester faces "significant write-downs".

Developments in the future of Northern Rock have seen the bank fly to the top of the FTSE charts, propelling the index up 24.1 points, or 0.38%, to 6286.2 at 10.07am.

The FTSE took heart from a strong start on Wall Street to close the week up 106.80 or 1.74% at 6262.10.