London close: Footsie finishes higher on strong macro data

- German Ifo and UK retail data lifts sentiment- Financials and miners make strong gains in London- Strong start on Wall Street, GE and Microsoft beat forecastsAfter some better-than-expected economic data spurred a rise for the FTSE 100 this morning, the blue chip index held on to gains in the afternoon, trading within a narrow range with financials and miners leading the way.Equities looked to "end the week on a high following a quiet day in the markets", according to analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari. The FTSE 100 finished 120 points (+2.1%) higher than last Friday's close of 5,652. The Ifo Business Climate survey for Germany rose from 109.7 to 109.8 in March compared with consensus forecasts of a fall to 109.5. Nevertheless, the Ifo admitted that the rise was less pronounced than in previous months showing that "the German economy is losing some of its momentum". Meanwhile, March retail sales in the UK showed their biggest monthly increase since January 2011. Retail sales volumes rose 1.8%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with the ONS suggesting that the clement weather boosted sales of spring clothing, footwear and gardening products. March was the warmest Britain has experienced since 1957. A strong start for stocks Stateside also boosted market sentiment today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average making gains of over 100 points by the close in London on the back of strong results from US corporate heavyweights General Electric and Microsoft.FTSE 100: Man and Lloyds provide a liftFinancials were on the up on Friday with hedge fund manager Man Group among the best performers after its recent sell-off. The stock saw a peak-to-trough fall of 38% between March 2nd and April 19th due to the struggles of its flagship fund AHL. Credit Suisse reiterated its outperform rating on Man today, recommending investors to "view the share price capitulation as a longer-term buying opportunity."Banking group Lloyds was also on the rise, helped by a buy recommendation from Investec. "Return on equity recovery will be painfully slow, but (whisper it quietly) the worst looks to be behind us now," the broker said. Miners were wanted as copper prices advanced. According to a Bloomberg survey, copper traders are bullish for the first time in six weeks with prices up over 2%. Diversified mining peers Vedanta Resources, Kazakhmys and Xstrata - all with a large footprint in the copper industry - were making strong gains by the close of trade.Water group Severn Trent was the best performer of the day though, rising over 3%, with sector peer United Utilities not too far behind.Engineering group IMI ventured higher after saying that it has made a strong start to 2012 with growth in its Severe Service and Merchandising divisions offsetting a more subdued performance in its other units. Chip-designer ARM Holdings was leading the fallers ahead of the release of its first-quarter results next week. Jefferies this morning raised its target price on the stock but maintained its underperform rating, saying "we think a lack of visibility on the long-term potential has stymied sentiment." FTSE 250: SuperGroup plummets after getting sums wrong Trendy clothing group Supergroup finished the day nearly 40% lower after admitting that there have been arithmetic errors in its forecast of the wholesale business's performance amounting to a shortfall of some £2.5m. In the addition to a timing issue over demand predictions, pre-tax profit for the year to end-April is now expected to be in the region of £43m, versus the current consensus forecast of £50.74m. Panmure Gordon and Oriel Securities downgraded their ratings on SuperGroup today from buy to hold, while Peel Hunt cut its recommendation from hold to sell.??Telecoms group Cable & Wireless Worldwide continued to fall after last night extending the time required for Vodafone to come up with a formal offer for the group. The group took a tumble yesterday after it was revealed that India's Tata Communications was out of the running. The original deadline ran out on March 29th and was then extended until April 19th. It has now been pushed back to Monday April 23rd. ??Heading the other way was bookmaker William Hill after a strong first quarter, driven by growth in online betting, with a gross win margin above the expected range. Meanwhile satellite communications group Inmarsat was a high riser after reaching a settlement with its US partner, Lightsquared, over the money the US wireless network company owes the FTSE 250 firm.FTSE 100 - RisersSevern Trent (SVT) 1,720.00p +3.68%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,237.00p +3.08%CRH (CRH) 1,246.00p +2.81%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 30.10p +2.77%United Utilities Group (UU.) 620.50p +2.56%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 521.50p +2.56%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,045.00p +2.51%Man Group (EMG) 95.70p +2.46%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 889.50p +2.42%Xstrata (XTA) 1,167.50p +2.41%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 585.00p -3.70%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,700.00p -2.97%ITV (ITV) 86.00p -2.38%WPP (WPP) 843.00p -1.46%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 832.00p -1.42%Polymetal International (POLY) 988.00p -1.40%Wolseley (WOS) 2,382.00p -1.20%BP (BP.) 434.85p -1.18%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,620.00p -1.09%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 385.70p -0.98%FTSE 250 - RisersInmarsat (ISAT) 440.40p +4.43%International Personal Finance (IPF) 253.50p +4.32%William Hill (WMH) 278.30p +4.31%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 143.50p +4.06%Home Retail Group (HOME) 103.50p +3.92%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 749.50p +3.67%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 253.10p +3.39%Homeserve (HSV) 243.30p +3.27%De La Rue (DLAR) 923.50p +3.24%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 68.65p +3.23%FTSE 250 - FallersSupergroup (SGP) 351.80p -38.23%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 32.00p -5.88%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 682.50p -3.19%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 130.80p -2.90%CSR (CSR) 198.40p -2.70%Laird (LRD) 216.10p -2.26%Ashtead Group (AHT) 255.80p -2.22%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 468.00p -2.19%Essar Energy (ESSR) 137.50p -2.07%Chemring Group (CHG) 362.90p -2.00%BC