Footsie rebounds from two-day fall as financial and mining stocks rally

FTSE: 5,976.27 (+56.79) Mid-250: 11,907.24 (+61.52) Small Cap: 3,276.32 (+5.67):THE UK'S FTSE 100 Index rebounded from a two-day sell-off yesterday, as banks and mining companies rallied after a US report showed the world's largest economy added more jobs than forecast last month.

FTSE 100 Index increased 56.79, or 1 per cent, to 5,976.2 at the close in London.

The US jobs data “has been enough to encourage investors to pick up some of the more badly beaten stocks,” said Joshua Raymond, a market strategist at City Index in London. “Two sectors which have been hit hard this week, the banks and the miners, have both seen buyers return today.”

The Labor Department report showed non-farm payrolls in the US increased by 244,000 workers last month for the biggest gain since May 2010.

The FTSE 100 last month climbed 2.7 per cent as companies across Europe posted earnings that topped analyst estimates and the US Federal Reserve maintained its pledge to keep interest rates low to support the economic recovery.

RBS jumped 5.6 per cent to 42.74p after Britain’s biggest government-owned lender report- ed first-quarter operating profit of £1.05 billion ($1.7 billion), up from £882 million a year earlier.

Anglo American rose 3.8 per cent to 3,056p. Vedanta Resour- ces gained 3.3 per cent to 2,194p and Xstrata increased 2.3 per cent to 1,442p.

Carnival, the world’s biggest cruise-line operator, jumped 2 per cent to 2,600p as crude oil heads for its biggest weekly sell-off in New York since December 2008.

EasyJet, which yesterday reported a 35 per cent jump in passenger traffic for April, climbed 3.6 per cent to 355.1p and Ryanair gained 3.8 per cent to €3.59 in Dublin.

ARM climbed 4.9 per cent to 595p.

AppleInsider said there is speculation that Apple is planning to stop using Intel’s processors for laptops and instead adopt ARM architecture that is currently used in the iPhone and iPad.

Admiral gained 2.1 per cent to 1,697p after the UK car insurer that owns the confused.com website reported a 56 per cent increase in first-quarter sales to £539 million as demand for low-cost car insurance increased.

Helphire was the biggest decliner on the FTE All-Share Index, plunging 61 per cent to 4.91p. – (Bloomberg)