Round Up November 26th

The FTSE100 kick started from Friday’s five-year low to notch up the highest single day gain ever.

Closing at 4152.96, the FTSE spectacularly leapt 372 points – a rise of 9.84%.

Confidence in London was reflected on Wall Street with the DOW closing up 6% at 8443.39.

The rises were against a backdrop of a mixed reception for Chancellor Alastair Darling’s pre-budget report tax cuts and wide support for President-elect Barack Obama naming Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary with a multi-billion dollar mission to lift the US out of economic gloom.

Winners for the day in London were the banks – with Barclays up 8%, Royal Bank of Scotland climbing 6% and Lloyds TSB with a more modest 5% rise.

Oil companies BP and Royal Dutch Shell also both added more than 2%.

Following Mr Darling’s tax cut announcement, high street retailers Next, Argos and Homebase crept up 2% while Marks and Spencer gently floated up 1%.

But a possible loser is the Character Group, facing trading troubles in the lead up to Christmas. The company makes toys and other merchandise based on TV and film characters like Hannah Montana, Scooby Doo and Doctor Who – saw shares drop 8p, or 20%, to 32.5p.

Britain’s four top toy retailers – Home Retail, Tesco, Toys R Us and Woolworths – are supplied by Character. The company is valued at no more than the £12m held on deposit in the bank.

Character chairman, Richard King said retailers were watching stock levels and had reduced orders because of the plunge in consumer confidence.

The US government confirmed the $213 billion rescue of banking giant Citigroup by guaranteeing the banks subprime loans and shoring up the share price.

The US Dollar weakened against the Pound to £1.51 and the Euro gained slightly to £1.72.

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Tags: Alistair Darling, Banking, FTSE, Retail, UK Banks