UK stocks soared in the last half hour of trading as investors reacted to positive unemployment figures published in the US, enabling the FTSE to close up 9.80 points at 4,728.30, despite lagging for most of the day.
Stocks surged in New York once the employment figures came through, as they suggest companies are at last starting to increase hiring to meet demand, as against a previous trend focused on narrowing spare labour capacity and boosting overtime of existing employees. Smith & Nephew closed up 48.5p at 517p as the company announced a strong third quarter. BAE Systems bounded up 4.75p to 242.75p as analysts try to forecast how another four years of a Bush administration may help boost profits of Europe’s largest defence contractor, which already has big exposure to the Pentagon budget. ...
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