Daily market snapshot: Shares boosted by positive Far East data

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US equities finished higher in another round of fairly quiet trading on Wednesday, underpinned by upbeat economic data out of China and Japan overnight.

The Dow Jones closed up 0.4% and the S&P 500 was up 0.5%. Stocks in Europe moved ahead yesterday, with the FTSE 100 (+0.7%) buoyed by better-than-expected employment numbers. This morning, shares in London opened up (FTSE 100 +0.1%), as the market digests BT's encouraging half year results. The stock moved higher (+4.0%) after the company announced that it hopes to save an extra £500m of costs this year on top of the existing £1bn target. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 opened roughly flat. Previous working day closing figures: Dow Jones: 10,291.26 FTSE All-Share: 2,694.47 FTSE 100: 5,266.7...

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