FTSE 100 enjoys best weekly gain of 2002

The FTSE 100 managed a rise of 68 points to 5169 on Friday, marking the index's best weekly gain so far this year of 2.3%. The city was cheered by figures from the UK manufacturing index, which rose to 50.1 last month from 46.5 in January, signifying its first rise since February 2001. Anything the UK did today, the US did better though – it was revealed today that US manufacturing grew in February for the first time in 19 months according to the Institute for Supply Management. At midday over on Wall Street markets were notably higher. In the UK, it was a good day for the banking ...