Wall Street record lifts FTSE

Man Group shares saw the biggest gains in early trading, up 11 points, or 1.78%, to 627.5p. Old Mututal shares gained 2.9 points, or 1.71%, to 172.6p, followed by Alliance & Leicester, up 18 points, or 1.63%, to £11.20. Centrica shares added 5.5 points, or 1.44%, to 386.25p and Standard Chartered rose by 23 points, or 1.4%, to £16.65. Antofagasta shares lost some of yesterday’s gains and fell by 8.5 points, or 1.19%, to 707p. Cadbury Schweppes lost 5.5 points, or 0.83%, to 658p, and Kingfisher shares declined by 1.75 points, or 0.78%, to 223p. On Wall Street, reports of strong consum...