Renewed bail-out hopes cheer world markets

The blue-chip index flirted with 5,000 before falling to 4,943.69 shortly before midday, a rise of 41.24 points, or 0.84%. HBOS stocks advanced after a worrying drop late yesterday and had climbed to 131.8p, a jump of 7.68%. Xstrata had earlier led the FTSE winners after climbing as high as £18.98 but the firm has since slipped to £18.20 after advancing 104p on Wednesday. However, Lonmin was witnessing a major drop of around 20% to £18.30 after Xstrata said it was not interested in a takeover bid. US shares rebounded before markets closed as new hopes were raised that the US Government...