27 January 2004, 14:49  UK shares gain, led by banks, telecoms

Shares in London rose this morning, led by financials as last night's Wall Street gains boosted sentiment. At 1000, the FTSE was up 29.20 points, or 0.65pc, at 4,474.70, as the headline indices in Frankfurt and Paris posted similar gains. Among the banks, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS all gained, while the insurers also moved higher, rebounding from losses yesterday in the wake of Legal & General's lacklustre sales figures.
Aviva added 7.50p to 522.50, Prudential added 0.5p to 485.50 and Legal & General gained 0.75p to 103. Telecom stocks were also in demand, with Vodafone adding 2.75p to 144.50 ahead of tomorrow's third quarter subscriber numbers. Rival mmO2 rose 0.75p to 84, with the sector boosted by German peer Deutsche Telekom. It said this morning that its T-Mobile unit added 7.6 million subscribers to its books last year.
BAE Systems rose 3.75p to 168.75 as its shares recovered from yesterday's loss of a STG13bn government contract. Elsewhere, shares in struggling football club Leeds surged 10pc after creditors gave it another four days to find the cash it needs to survive until the end of the season. //www.fxcentre.com

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