London close: Italian vote drives late surge

Just four stocks finished in the red in London as the Footsie closed 1.85% higher, near its highest levels of the day. Sentiment was given a lift around midday after positive newsflow out of Italy and some encouraging economic data from the US.ITALIAN YIELDS DOWN; US DATA PROVIDES A LIFTItaly's Senate has approved its fiscal austerity package, a key part of its efforts to bring the chaotic situation in the country's debt markets under control. In turn, that opens the way, partly, to the replacement of the current Prime Minister. Some expect the lower chamber of parliament to vote tomorrow. Of interest, the head of the European Financial Stability Fund, Klaus Regling, has urged Italy to act swiftly even as he indicated that the fund is ready to step in and help if necessary. Amongst the measures approved are reductions in central government expenditures, the implementation of a public spending review and measures to enhance revenues to the tune of €59.8bn in savings, an amount equivalent to 3.4% of GDP. Particularly relevant, apparently, the statutory retirement age of women working in the private sector, for example, will be gradually increased from 60 to 65 by 2026. By 16:18 in London, the yield on an Italian 10-year government bond was down 41.8 basis points to 6.47%. While this is still at a dangerously high level, it is well below the near-7.5% mark seen just two days ago. Meanwhile, gains on Wall Street's benchmarks were making average gains of around 2% by midday in New York on the back of easing Eurozone fears and some positive economic data. The University of Michigan's consumer confidence survey this month rose to 64.2 this month, a five-month high, up from 60.9 in October. This smashed estimates of 61.3. In domestic news, UK producer prices have come in below forecasts for the month of October, at 5.7% versus the consensus forecast of 5.9%. FINANCIALS PROVIDE A LIFTSchroders was the top riser after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to hold from sell, and even though Credit Suisse cut its target to 1,390p from 1,450p. Banking peers RBS, Lloyds and Barclays made strong gains as fears over the escalating Eurozone crisis eased a little. The STOXX Europe 600 Banks sector was 3.62% higher today.AMEC was also rising after Galvan Research marked the stock out as a buy, saying that it expects the engineering and project management services (EPMS) stock to retest "main post August intraday resistance of 960p plus". Among the few fallers was luxury brand Burberry, ahead of its first half results due on Tuesday.A big mover was struggling foods manufacturer Premier Foods, which was up a mammoth 40% by the close, as after Bob Spooner, group operations director, showed his confidence in the group by upping his stake. The group, which has had a difficult year losing over 60% of its share price, has risen some 91% over the last week after it was given a bit of breathing space by its bankers, who have agreed to defer the company's end-of-year loan covenant tests by three months. BCFTSE 100 - RisersSchroders (SDR) 1,393.00p +6.83%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 22.46p +6.40%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 28.84p +6.13%Essar Energy (ESSR) 288.80p +5.32%Barclays (BARC) 178.90p +5.24%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,960.00p +5.21%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 148.70p +4.94%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,163.00p +4.87%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 511.00p +4.86%Prudential (PRU) 636.00p +4.78%FTSE 100 - FallersBurberry Group (BRBY) 1,377.00p -1.01%BG Group (BG.) 1,366.00p -0.98%Serco Group (SRP) 500.00p -0.50%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 317.40p -0.13%