London close: Stocks rally after strong start in US

The volatile trading continued on Thursday as losses were turned into gains in London on the back of a rally on Wall Street. A steep rise was seen after midday erased earlier losses and helped the Footsie to finish near its highs for the day.Equities were on the rise in morning trade in New York as an unexpected drop in jobless claims provided some respite from the ongoing global economic concerns. The number of Americans claiming jobless benefits fell by 7,000 to 395,000 in the week to August 6 against expectations of a slight rise. Rumbling on the background, however, were worries over France's AAA credit rating, exaggerated further by the recent downgrade of the US rating. In London, banking giant Barclays was the high riser, gaining nearly 9%. The sector staged a partial recovery after it struggled in the recent economic instability. Lloyds, RBS and HSBC were also among the best performers.Insurers Old Mutual and Prudential were also in demand, posting gains of over 5% each.Falling gold and silver prices hampered the share price performance of miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillo, who were among the few lone fallers of the day.Anglo Pacific climbed over 10% on the FTSE 250 after it reported a record level of royalty income in the first half of 2011, despite adverse weather conditions in Australia. Aquarius Platinum increased headline earnings to $142.8m, a significant increase on the $23.6m figure for 2010. Shares jumped 9%.Meanwhile, a report from the retailers' representative, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), showed that a record high of nearly one in three consumers say they have no spare cash. According to its survey, which was conducted with the information group Neilsen, 65% of consumers have switched to cheaper grocery brands to save on household expenditure. Higher utility bills and fuel prices are squeezing consumers, the BRC says. Retailers WH Smith and Halfords fell lower. Costa coffee owner Whitbread was also unwanted.BCFTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 177.85p +8.64%Essar Energy (ESSR) 282.90p +7.94%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,045.00p +7.29%British Land Co (BLND) 551.00p +6.68%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,218.00p +6.47%ARM Holdings (ARM) 520.00p +6.40%ICAP (IAP) 416.00p +6.31%Hammerson (HMSO) 418.00p +6.25%Prudential (PRU) 601.50p +6.08%Old Mutual (OML) 109.40p +6.01%FTSE 100 - FallersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,185.00p -3.13%BP (BP.) 396.60p +0.05%Smiths Group (SMIN) 948.00p +0.26%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 654.00p +0.38%Whitbread (WTB) 1,435.00p +0.42%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,641.00p +0.43%ITV (ITV) 57.30p +0.44%Reed Elsevier (REL) 468.40p +0.45%Experian (EXPN) 703.50p +0.57%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 279.00p +0.72%