UK stocks closed higher on Friday, scoring fresh five-year highs and sealing their strongest one-week gain since January as mining stocks such as Antofagasta rebounded strongly.
The FTSE 100 has gained 9 percent this year thanks to bid activity, solid earnings and cheap valuations. While some analysts question the sustainability of the move, many say there is no reason to expect a significant change in direction.
"The equity market is fundamentally undervalued compared with the price of competing asset classes, primarily cash, bonds and corporate debt," said Cazenove global strategist Eric Lonergan.
"The global economy is basically fine. Does it matter if inflation is 2 or 2.5 percent? It is still low. Does it really matter if the Fed funds rate peaks at 5, 5.25 or 5.5 percent? Not really."
The FTSE closed 51.3 points, or 0.8 percent, higher at 6,132.7 points - its strongest close since February 2001 and capping a 1.7 percent gain for the week. The index also set an intraday five-year high at 6,137.1.
The mining sector recovered from the previous session's sell-off to contribute about 15 points to the index. Pure copper play Antofagasta leapt 5.1 percent, Kazakhmys rose 4.3 percent and Xstrata gained 4.6 percent, aided by copper touching record highs.
"There's clearly a lot of money chasing the sector and new funds targeting the resources stocks, and investors are still buying on dips," said Roger Cursley, a strategist at Investec.
"But I think commodities are getting very detached from anything that makes economic sense. It's very hard to call the top of that kind of wave but one can't but feel that it might be close."
Shares in medical devices maker Smith & Nephew were among the top FTSE 100 gainers, up 3.5 percent on a reassuring earnings report overnight from US rival Stryker.
Cruise line company Carnival rose 2.4 percent following better-than-expected results from US-Norwegian peer [Royal Caribbean Cruises].
Oil heavyweights including BP were also strong, adding more than 20 points to the index, with oil prices trading near record highs.
Most sectors showed gains, but there were still some losers.
A dip in WPP weighed slightly on the benchmark index after the world's second-largest advertising agency disappointed investors with its like-for-like revenue growth.
WPP was among the biggest FTSE 100 fallers, shedding 0.8 percent after the company said first-quarter revenues increased 5 percent. Dealers said expectations had been for a higher figure.
Among mid-caps, ICAP jumped more than 10 percent after the world's largest money and futures broker finally sealed a deal to buy interbank foreign exchange and commodities platform EBS for $775 million cash.
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