London’s equities markets were higher on Thursday.
The FTSE 100 was up 1.45 percent to 6,576.3, while the FTSE 250 jumped 1.79 percent to 11,480.5. As in Europe, telecoms topped the gainers.
Vodafone (LSE: VOD; NYSE: VOD; FWB: VOD) added 6.45 percent to 189.7p after France Telecom (Euronext: FTE; NYSE: FTE) announced its better than anticipated results.
Retailers also saw gains.
Home Retail (LSE: HOME) was higher on the 100, up 5.03 percent to 412.75, while over on the 250 department store chain Debenhams (LSE: DEB) gained 6.9 percent to 112.25p.
Online gambler PartyGaming (LSE: PRTY) was the best performer on the 250, where it added 13.64 percent to 31.25p.
Insurers were mixed on the session, with Old Mutual (LSE: OML; JSE: OLOML) 5 percent higher to 178.6p but Standard Life (LSE: SLET) down 1.25 percent to 276.25p.
Other losers included house builder and property developer Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV), which dropped 1.81 percent to 650p.
In the banking sector, Alliance & Leicester (LSE: AL) was down 2.99 percent to 729.5p.
Capita Group (LSE: CPI) had the worst day on the 100, falling 5.53 percent to 700p on the news that it will lose handling of London’s congestion charge to IBM (NYSE: IBM) beginning in 2009.