News that the world's leading economy added 103,000 jobs - many more than expected - last month has helped the FTSE power ahead while US stock futures point to a robust start on Wall Street.
From trading close to unchanged before the data, the FTSE jumped to be up as much as 79.6 points at 5370.9 after the data. It came off that high to be trading up 58 points, or 1.1%, at 5350 by 1.50pm. Gold also extended gains while government bond prices in the US, UK and Europe fell.
Wall Street has yet to open, but stock futures there jumped to indicate a robust start, turning positive after the jobs data allayed fears of that the US could soon drop back into recession.
The US Labor Department said 103,000 non-farm jobs were added in September, well above analysts' consensus forecast for a rise of 60,000. Rises for prior months were also revised higher. But the unemployment rate remained at 9.1%.
