In London on Wednesday the FTSE 100 reached a 4-year high of 5,494.8, its sixth best day this year and a rise of 0.9 percent from Tuesday’s close. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was also up, by 0.6 percent to 7,935.6.
Among the stocks helping the markets to their gains on the day was Standard Chartered, which gained 4.2 percent to £12.40, near its all time high, on strong performances by Asian stock markets. Standard Chartered recently bought South Korean bank Korea First, which has been a particularly strong market.
Schroders, the assets manager, which also has a great deal of interests in the region, was also up on the day, by 1.3 percent to 920p.
The mining sector was also up on the day, with Corus and Xstrata each up by 4 percent, to 52½p and £14.90 respectively. Also in the sector, Anglo American rose by 3.8 percent to £17.04.
The energy sector was mixed, with Royal Dutch Shell “B” shares up 1.6 percent to £19.46 but Burren Energy down 0.8 percent to 839½p.
Several media companies were up on the recommendation of ABN Amro. Among the media sector gainers were United Business Media, which gained 1.5 percent to 551½p. Also seeing gains were WPP with an advance of 1.7 percent to 586p and Reuters, which rose by 2.8 percent to 379¼p.