London close: Late rally helped by the US

The Footsie finished over 1% higher as an afternoon rally was helped by some better-than-expected US non-farm payrolls figures. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, non-farm payrolls rose by 244,000 in the month of April, while consensus had been pointing to a gain of 198,000. Banking giant RBS surged by nearly 7% after making an underlying first quarter operating profit of £1.05bn in the first quarter, up from £882m the year before. Total income declined to £7.55bn from £8.21bn the year before, as market conditions were not so favourable this time round for the group's investment banking arm, Global Banking and Markets.Sector peers Standard Chartered and Barclays were also firmer. As was Lloyds, recovering from yesterday's losses after the bank took an impairment charge that was half a billion pounds large than it was expecting.Asset management firm Schroders continued to decline after reporting yesterday that first quarter profits came short of expectations in the first quarter. Mining firms Anglo American, Vedanta Resources and Xstrata were in demand. International Consolidated Airlines took off after it seeing an improved performance in the first quarter after reporting its first results since forming from the merger of British Airways and Spain's Iberia. The company posted a pre-tax loss of €47m (£28.5m) for the three months to 31 March, much narrower than the €273m deficit that would have been seen in the same period the previous year had the two companies existed as one entity then. Revenues soared to €3.64bn from €3.15bn. Car insurer Admiral, another strong performer, saw strong growth so far this year, although things are tougher at the website business Confused.com. Turnover was up by 56% in the first quarter compared with the same period last year at £539m, Admiral said in a trading statement covering 1 January to 5 May. Under the weather was engineering firm IMI, which saw shares fall despite announcing that results will be "well ahead" of last year. Also announced was the appointment of Roberto Quarta, currently chairman of Rexel SA, who is to take over as chairman of IMI next month. Accelerating ahead was engine developer Rolls-Royce after confirming that it is trading in line with previous guidance to grow underlying revenues "modestly" in 2011, as a slowdown in original equipment revenues in the Marine division is offset by services activity growth in the Civil aerospace and Marine businesses. Hotels group Millennium & Copthorne was firmly lower on the FTSE 250 after it warned that the recovery this year will be more subdued than that seen in 2010, despite posting higher revenues and profits in the three months to 31 March. Total revenues rose to £174.2m from £160.5m in the same period the previous year, while profits climbed to £19.7m from £18.6m. RevPAR (revenue per available room, a key measure for the hotel industry) was up to £55.28 from £51.78. Pest control and cleaning firm Rentokil Initial was wanted even after it posted a 10.1% drop in first quarter adjusted pre-tax profit but expects business at its struggling City Link to pick up in the next two quarters. Rentokil said it expected a financial improvement at City Link after strong progress since February and as new business wins come on stream towards the latter end of the second quarter and into the third. Shares in Helphire collapsed after the supplier of replacement vehicles to drivers involved in accidents said profits for the year to 30 June will be below expectations due to high oil prices reducing car usage. Helphire said it believes that an 8% decrease in claims by motorists over 2010 continued into the current year. "The group's view, supported by a number of industry surveys, is that motorists are using their cars less, principally due to cost," Helphire said.