London close: FTSE 100 storms past 6,000

The top share index lost some if its strong early gains ahead of the close, but still finished above the psychologically important 6,000 point mark on a storming start to 2011. Oil giant BPwas boosted by reports that rival Shell looked into making a bid for the company in the wake of last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which sent BP's share price plummeting. The higher oil price is also good news for oil stocks. Silver miner Fresnillo, meanwhile, was wanted on the return of rumours that Miexican business magnate Carlos Slim is running the rule over the company prior to launching a bid. Gold miner Randgold Resources fell, however, as investors lose their appetite for gold's haven qualities. Banks were strong led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which has been given a boost by Exane BNP Paribas upgrading the stock to its 'outperform' rating. Barclays and Lloyds are also going well.Ocado led the risers in the FTSE 250 amid expectations of a strong trading update from the online grocery delivery group next week.In company news, no frills airline easyJet is to exercise its option to take delivery of 15 Airbus A320 aircraft between 2012 and 2014. It has agreed new options over a further 33 A320 aircraft, while 20 of the A319 aircraft which easyJet had contracted to acquire from Airbus have been converted into orders for A320 aircraft.Oberthur, the French banknote printer that has bid for De La Rue, cranked up the pressure on its British rival Tuesday saying it believes that De La Rue has missed out on a recent tender to supply currency paper to the Reserve Bank of India.Cairn Energy has agreed a contract to tie-up two drilling vessels for its 2011 exploration programme offshore Greenland. Subject to approval from the government of Greenland, Cairn intends to drill up to four wells in 2011. Cairn has also entered into a stand-by secured revolving debt facility of $900m that will also provide funding for general corporate purposes. Desire Petroleum crashed again as it confirmed drilling at its 25/5-1 well on the Dawn/Jacinta prospect in the North Falkland Basin has reached target depth but failed to find any oil.The rig will now move to Rockhopper Exploration which will drill "one or two wells", subject to regulatory approval, before returning to Desire to drill a well at a location still to be finalised and subject to regulatory approval.Construction and engineering group Costain has been awarded a highways contract by Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. The £59m contract is to construct 4.5 kilometres of dual carriageway access road from the M4 Junction 38 into Port Talbot and the docks, as well as completing the link to Junction 42 on the M4 and West Wales.Bid target Blacks Leisure saw strong underlying trading through December, with like-for-like sales in its outdoor stores up by over 10%, though last year's retrenchment meant sales fell overall.Chemring, the military decoy flares and mine detection firm, said its US subsidiary, Non-Intrusive Inspection Technology (NITEK), has won a $38.4m contract from the US Army. Trading during the fourth quarter has been "buoyant" at software solutions developer Delcam which now predicts 2010 profits will top forecasts. Both software licence and maintenance sales for the last three months of the year, typically the group's most active trading period, were ahead of management expectations across all the major markets in Europe, Asia and North America.North Sea oilfields operator Xcite Energy said its 9/3b-6z well on the Bentley field has been successfully suspended for potential future use as a production well.Oil and gas firm President Petroleum saw its share price take a dip after an update on its drilling operations in Louisiana, USA and South Australia.Trading during the fourth quarter has been "buoyant" at software solutions developer Delcam which now predicts 2010 profits will top forecasts.FTSE 100 - RisersBP (BP.) 492.90p +5.87%British Airways (BAY) 285.90p +4.92%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,299.00p +4.34%Barclays (BARC) 272.75p +4.24%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 40.68p +4.12%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 648.50p +4.09%TUI Travel (TT.) 255.70p +3.86%Carnival (CCL) 3,096.00p +3.82%BAE Systems (BA.) 342.30p +3.73%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,308.00p +3.73%FTSE 100 - FallersCompass Group (CPG) 568.00p -2.24%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,175.00p -1.90%International Power (IPR) 430.90p -1.53%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,164.00p -1.44%Essar Energy (ESSR) 572.00p -1.38%IMI (IMI) 932.50p -1.32%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,485.00p -1.27%GKN (GKN) 219.60p -1.17%Lonmin (LMI) 1,948.00p -0.92%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,775.00p -0.28%FTSE 250 - RisersOcado Group (OCDO) 196.70p +10.32%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 35.05p +7.19%Exillon Energy (EXI) 350.00p +6.71%ITV (ITV) 73.95p +5.57%Berkeley Group Holdings (BKG) 937.50p +5.34%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 93.05p +4.96%Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 255.40p +4.84%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 68.75p +4.64%Renishaw (RSW) 1,286.00p +4.55%Pace (PIC) 191.00p +4.54%FTSE 250 - FallersDomino Printing Sciences (DNO) 623.00p -4.15%Gartmore Group Ltd. (GRT) 88.60p -3.70%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 299.20p -3.48%Croda International (CRDA) 1,566.00p -3.09%Misys (MSY) 334.10p -2.59%Marston's (MARS) 111.80p -2.36%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 76.35p -2.12%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,518.00p -2.06%Avis Europe (AVE) 232.20p -2.03%Sportingbet (SBT) 60.50p -1.94%