The FTSE 100 closed up 0.90 per cent on Thursday with gains for miners and Burberry.

The index ended the day at 5,154.64, a rise of 45.74 points.

Fashion house Burberry was among the leading shares benefiting from positive noises coming from brokers over demand for luxury goods.

The firm ended the day up 5.55 per cent – topping the commodity stocks.

Tullow Oil rose 5.04 per cent, Kazakhmys gained 4.92 per cent, Antofagasta rose 4.64 per cent and Eurasian Natural Resources climbed 4.55 per cent.

Meanwhile, financial stocks took a hit today.

BAE Systems fell 2.64 per cent and Shire was down 2.11 per cent.

Segro fell 2.06 per cent and Vodafone dipped 1.75 per cent.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said: "Once again the mining sector has dragged the market higher with numbers from Vedanta showing production was at maximum capacity over recent months.

"The Bank of England kept rates on hold, so no surprise there – but markets are less than clear as to which way quantitative easing may be headed in the months to come.

"With some members of the Monetary Policy Committee concerned that the most recent economic strength could just be something of a “dead cat bounce”, the Bank may still feel they need to give the UK a boost."

In New York, the Dow Joes was up 0.97 per cent to 9,819.59 at 11:53 EDT (16:53 BST), while the S&P 500 in Chicago gained 1.07 per cent.

Popularity: 1% [?]