Footsie rises as Greece's position on EU bailout comes into sharper focus

FTSE: 5,545.64 (+61.54) Mid-250: 10,406.67 (+155.02) Small Cap: 2,832.26 (+11.87):THE FTSE 100 went on a volatile run yesterday, as traders around Europe tracked the latest twists and turns in Greece's market-moving political drama.

Hopes that the Greek prime minister George Papandreou had come to agreement with opposition leaders to drop the referendum on the EU bailout turned the index around from opening losses.

London’s benchmark closed 62 points higher at 5,545.64, a rise of 1.1 per cent, taking it off session lows of 5,402.63.

“Once again we find ourselves back in territory that’s never been mapped out in textbooks,” said Will Hedden, sales trader at IG Index.

Man, a hedge fund, rose 2.4 per cent to 144.7p after well-received interim results. A late surge in performance fees in the period helped it report a smaller than forecast decline in first-half pretax profits.

Jonathan Jackson, head of equities at Killik, said: “We believe [man group] remains well placed to pick up new business when market sentiment improves . . . A potential negative is whether investors will remain willing to pay high fees in a low-growth environment and particularly where range bound markets limit the upside potential for trend following funds. For now, we retain our positive stance given the current depressed valuation of the shares.”

BT also made a prominent appearance, rising 2.8 per cent to 192.8p after robust earnings in the second quarter helped it underline its existing for the year.

There were also defensive stocks at the top of the leaderboard. Silver miner Fresnillo was 5.4 per cent higher at £18.78 and BAE Systems was 3.3 per cent higher at 277.7p.

Shares in insurer Aviva followed the wider trading pattern. Having been under pressure in early trade in line with the toll taken on its sales by the euro zone market turmoil, the stock recovered to end 1.4 per cent higher on the day at 329.4p.

Tate and Lyle rallied 5.2 per cent to 680.5p after the maker of sweetener Splenda said fiscal first-half earnings beat estimates.

ITV rose 5.9 per cent to 65.1p.

Cable Wireless Communications surged 7.8 per cent to 39.33p as growth at the UK phone company’s Caribbean and Macau units pushed increases in fiscal first-half sales and earnings. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011/Bloomberg)