FTSE hits best level for almost six years

Aerospace group BAE Systems ended the session up 6.86% to 424.5p after the government scrapped a two-year Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into allegations of corruption. British Energy also performed well with a rise of 5.17% to 539p, closely followed by Alliance & Leicester which gained 3.4% to £11.56, while BT added 3.28% to 315p, and insurer Standard Life climbed 2.42% to 296.5p. On the downside, ITV was the biggest drag with a fall of 2.01% to 109.75p as NTL is thought to have pulled out of bidding for the company, closely followed by Cairn Energy which slipped 1.64% to £...