UK stocks : FTSE 100 index up 0.5 pct
best week so far, recorded in May.
It was only the third time this year the FTSE had posted five straight days of gains, with the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday disrupting usual trends in Friday profit-taking activity.
The five consecutive day rally (in the UK market) is interesting, as the S&P has only ever rallied 4 consecutive days into Thanksgiving nine times before. And every time it's done that, it's rallied on the Friday as well, Andy Ash, Head of Sales at Monument Securities, said.
The S&P 500 was up 0.9 percent, with a strong opening in the United States helping to break the FTSE 100 through the 50 day moving average, though the rise could slow as the index approaches 5,921, the post-U.S. election high.
The pace at which it's coming back is difficult to stand in front of at these sort of levels, but as you get nearer the top of the range, the pace of the move will slow, Phil Roberts, chief European technical strategist at Barclays Capital, said.
The gains were broad based, with every sector contributing to the rise in the index. Miners rebounded from early falls to gain 0.3 percent, with Basic Materials adding 2.5 points to the index.
Xstrata and Glencore both rose 0.6 percent, after Xstrata said it had completed the construction of the first production line at its Koniambo project.
The news supported weekly gains in excess of 6.5 percent for both stocks after Glencore's protracted takeover of Xstrata was finally concluded and approved by EU regulators.
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