A bright end to the week has seen the FTSE 100 reach its best level since February 28. The leading index closed 55.8 points higher at 5947.1 despite an uncertain start on Wall Street after worse than expected US jobless figures.
British Energy has held on to its gains, up 48.5p at 711p after reports that French group EDF had got the go-ahead for a takeover bid.
Miners were among the leading risers, but banks had a mixed day as EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy said they should reveal the full extent of the damage caused by their toxic loans.
HBOS fell 1.5p to 573p after its Halifax division said it would raise mortgage rates on Monday. This comes against a background of falling base rates - with another cut by the Bank of England widely expected next Thursday - and is yet another indicator of the difficulties caused by the credit crunch.
B&Q owner Kingfisher led the FTSE 100 fallers, down 4.1p to 133.7p.
In the wake of the company's recent results, Seymour Pierce set a target price of 122p and said: "We believe that, despite the potential for improvement, the current rating is too high. With contributions from the overseas operations at increasing risk, the outlook for UK home retailers increasingly challenging and current trade in the subsector trending well below other categories we reiterate our sell recommendation."
