Financial Favourites

From the BBC:

Trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has resumed after being brought to a halt for three and a half hours by technical difficulties.

The LSE said it had been affected by connectivity issues and at 1033 GMT had placed all orders for shares into an “auction call period”.

This allows traders to put orders to buy or sell shares into the system but without executing them.

The FTSE 100 index was frozen at 5,264.97 when trading was interrupted.

It had fallen 99.84 points, or 1.9%, in the first two and a half hours of trading.

Share markets across the world have been trading lower on Thursday after the investment company Dubai World asked for a six-month delay on repaying its debts, raising concerns about Dubai’s financial health.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8380607.stm

The BBC are reporting:

The pound and the FTSE 100 index of top UK-listed shares have hit their highest levels since October on growing hopes for an economic recovery.

Markets took heart after brighter UK economic data and a rally in financial stocks following profits from banking giants HSBC and Barclays.

Sterling rose as high as $1.6965 against the dollar and hit a one-month high against the euro of 84.63p.

The FTSE 100 index ended at its highest level since early October at 4,682.46.

The index rose 1.6%, or 74 points, and earlier hit intra-day trading high of 4,710.23.