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Vodafone Group spearheaded the biggest rise for over two months by Britain's top shares on Tuesday after the mobile phone giant withdrew from an auction for a US rival and avoided a bidding war.
Shares in global news and information provider Reuters Group rose 18.4 percent to a 20-month high after the company said it bounced back into the black, reporting annual profits well above market expectations.
The FTSE-100 index closed up 53.4 points, or 1.2 percent, at 4,461.5, its highest close for almost three weeks and near the day's peak of 4,465, aided by a buoyant start on Wall Street. It was the FTSE's biggest rise since December 1.
At 1720 GMT, turnover had reached 5.65 billion shares, for one of the three busiest days ever in London. Volume rises after the close as transactions are reported, so the record daily total of 5.99 billion could be surpassed.
Volume was bloated by more than 1.6 billion Vodafone shares changing hands.
Vodafone jumped 4.5 percent to 138-1/2 pence, contributing 17 points to the FTSE, after US rival Cingular paid $41 billion for AT&T Wireless. There had been concern Vodafone would pay more than $38 billion to win the auction, which would have diluted earnings for several years.
"Management credibility has undoubtedly been dented by their pursuit of AT&T Wireless in the face of significant shareholder scepticism and it will take time to rebuild this," said Ralph Brook-Fox, investment manager at Britannic. "However, the fundamental attractions of the company remain," he said, repeating an "overweight" stance.
Rival mmO2 rose 3.1 percent and media and technology stocks were also buoyant. Advertising giant WPP rose 1.8 percent after US peer Omnicom reported a 10 percent rise in profit as an industry recovery picked up speed.
Publishers Pearson and Emap each added about three percent.
Insurer Royal & Sun Alliance leapt 6.7 percent to 103-1/2p. Dealers said there was talk its house broker Cazenove had made positive comments, while the stock's break above 100p for the first time since September sparked further buying. Cazenove could not be reached to comment.
Food retailer J. Sainsbury added two percent after saying its newly appointed chairman designate had withdrawn in the wake of investor opposition.
But mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley fell 4.4 percent as doubts about future growth overshadowed firm results, which were helped by a gain on property sales.
The day's bullish corporate news dampened the impact of more weakness in the dollar - sterling jumped to a fresh 11-year high of more than $1.90 - which threatens to crimp reported earnings of multinationals.
Data showing UK inflation crept up last month also helped temper sentiment by reinforcing expectations for a gradual rise in interest rates.
A batch of technology stocks led mid-caps higher, with LogicaCMG and Psion both benefiting from a strong showing by their US counterparts.
Biotech firm Celltech, however, shed 4.4 percent after analysts at UBS cut their rating on the stock to "reduce".

Copyright Reuters, 2004

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