Britain's leading share index gained 0.3 percent after a subdued half-day trading session on New Year's Eve, registering a 22 percent year-on-year increase for 2009, its biggest annualised gain since 1997. At the 12.30 GMT close, the FTSE 100 index was up 15.02 points at 5,412.88, driven by strength in heavyweight banks and miners - two of the main sectors which fuelled the blue chip recovery for most of the year.
"Obviously incredibly thin volumes ... but everyone must be happy to see the index close without big losses coming in to the year-end ... investors must be feeling pleased with themselves," said David Morrison, market strategist at GFT Global. The UK benchmark index ended below the year high of 5,445.17 struck on Tuesday, a level not seen since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, but was up around 54 percent since hitting a six-year trough in March.
Banks added the most points to the index, recovering from recent falls at the end of a topsy-turvy year. Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, and Barclays added 0.4 to 1.7 percent. Real estate issues and life insurers also rallied as investors' risk appetite re-emerged at the year-end, with Land Securities the top FTSE 100 riser, up 4.3 percent, while Hammerson gained 4.0 percent.
Legal & General and Standard Life both added 3.5 percent. Miners recovered from falls seen on Wednesday in tandem with firmer metals prices as the dollar's recent strength faded. Copper miner Antofagasta, silver miner Fresnillo, gold miner Randgold Resources, Kazakhmys, and Rio Tinto gained 0.5 to 1.8 percent. Metals group Johnson Matthey gained 0.9 percent as the price of auto-catalyst material platinum rose to its highest level since July 2008.
Buyers also came in for food retailers on hopes of solid post-Christmas sales, with updates due from the sector in the coming weeks. Wm Morrison, J Sainsbury, and Tesco climbed 1.1 to 1.5 percent. Other defensively perceived issues retreated, however, led by telecoms, beverages, tobaccos, and utilities. BT Group was the top blue chip faller, down 1.6 percent, while brewer SABMiller shed 0.7 percent, British American Tobacco lost 0.3 percent, and United Utilities fell 1.5 percent.
British house prices rose for an eighth consecutive month in December to end the year nearly 6 percent higher than they started it, mortgage lender Nation-wide said. Wall Street was seen starting its final session of 2009 positively, with investors eyeing the latest weekly US jobless claims, as well as the New York ISM index of business activity and optimism, both due at 13.30 GMT.
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