That stock News

LONDON (AFP) – The leading share index soared to a new two-year high on Friday as investors were buoyed by US job figures.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.21 percent at 5,875.35 points with the index now back at levels last seen in late 2008.

Rolls-Royce remained the biggest blue-chip faller for a second consecutive day after a Qantas Airbus A380 was forced to make an emergency landing on Thursday. The plane was forced to land when one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines exploded.

The incident still casts a shadow on the manufacturing giant's share price, which fell back by 4.91 percent -- or 30.50 pence -- to 591.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was another sharp faller after announcing a net loss of 1.146 billion pounds in the three months to September.

RBS shares fell by 4.54 percent -- or 2.14 pence -- to 45 as investors rushed to sell off their stake in the beleaguered lender.

The sell-off helped RBS finish as the most traded blue chip with investors exchanging more than 217 million shares. It was followed by Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) which saw 180 million shares switched owners.

A sharp rise in the price of copper helped Vedanta Resources finish as the top blue-chip performer.

The miner added 129 pence -- or 5.89 percent -- to close 2,319.

This was followed by medical group Smith and Nephew which saw its shares rise by 5.19 percent -- or 29 pence -- to close at 587.5 after strong third-quarter profits.

Sterling lost ground to the greenback after a better-than-expected jobs report showed the US economy created 151,000 jobs in October.

At 17:21 GMT, the pound was trading at 1.6210 dollars, down from 1.6268 at the same time on Thursday.

The British currency meanwhile rose to 1.538 euros, up from 1.1452 euros over the same period.

View the original article here