Good news all round lifts trade

ALL Street's latest roller coaster ride saw US stocks on the up and helped invigorate an otherwise nervous London equity market.

British stocks closed near the day's best levels, which were reached early in the session, but needed a big boost from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which shot up over 70 points at the outset of trading in New York.

Buying of the US market was fuelled by well received results from IBM, the bluest of US blue chips, and a good showing by US Treasury bonds after some encouraging economic news on durable goods, existing home sales and weekly jobless claims.

The FTSE-100 ended a net 15.9 higher at 3684.7, while second tier stocks, represented by the FTSE Mid-250 index, were lifted by bid activity and rose 23.3 to 4205.3.

Among a host of positive stories in London the defence and aerospace issues were given a substantial boost by confirmation of a series of British Ministry of Defence orders, which prompted above average gains in British Aerospace and Rolls Royce and also bolstered GEC and Racal Electronics.

Other stories adding to the momentum in London included a bullish review of first quarter trading at Boots, the high street retailer, whose chairman told investors and analysts at the annual meeting of a good rise in first quarter sales.

Adding to the optimism was Wednesday's stronger than expected 1.3 per cent rise in retail sales during June.

Retail stocks featured prominently in the list of FTSE 100 and Mid 250 outperformers, where an impressive performance from Boots was complemented by Body Shop, Sears and WH Smith.