London close: Stocks rise on euro optimism

- Greek CDSs will not be triggered, ISDA says.- Merkel may be willing to consider bailout fund increase. - Man Group surges after shaking up divi policy. - Tata weighing up a bid for Cable and Wireless Worldwide. It was a bullish start to March, with London's blue chips finishing close their highest levels of the day after it was announced that the Greek debt-swap agreement will not be considered a 'credit event'. Man Group led the surge on the Footsie, jumping over 13 percent, while Cable and Wireless Worldwide surged on the second-tier index on additional takeover talks.The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has decided that the Greek debt swap agreement between the country and its bondholders does not constitute a 'credit event'. As such, credit default swaps (insurance contracts against default), valued at €3.25bn will not be triggered. However, questions still remain over what will happen if all private creditors do not agree to take a haircut on its holdings of Greek sovereign debt.The meeting of the European Council in Brussels is scheduled for this evening, with leaders expected to discuss the size of the Eurozone's permanent bailout fund. Nevertheless, officials have said that while they will work long and hard throughout the month of March to take action - to strengthen the firewall and stave off the current crisis - absolutely nothing will be decided on today about the size of the rescue-fund, known as the ESM (European Stability Mechanism). However, in a turn-up for the books, German could finally be giving in to international pressure with reports saying that the country could be in favour of temporarily combining the ESM with the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). According to a report from the German paper Sueddeustche Zeitung, official sources have indicated that both the temporary and the permanent funds - the EFSF and the ESM, respectively - could be run simultaneously for at least a year. Thus, the €250bn left over in the EFSF would be added to the €500bn ESM firewall. Meanwhile, Spain and France sold a total of €12.5bn in sovereign debt today, with both auctions seeing yields fall. ECONOMIC NEWS The Markit/CIPS UK purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the month of February came in below expectations at 51.2 points, versus last month's reading of 52.0Meanwhile, the Eurozone's PMIs compiled by Markit showed signs of improvement in February, rising to a six-month high of 49.0 compared to 48.8 in the previous month. It is the third consecutive monthly rise but the index still remains below the crucial 50-point mark. The Eurozone jobless rate hit a record 10.7% in January, up from 10.6% the month before, according to Eurostat. The statistical office also revealed that Eurozone inflation increased to an annual rate of 2.7% in February, from 2.6% in January.Elsewhere, China's manufacturing PMI increased from 50.5 to 51 in February, the best reading since September. MAN SURGES AFTER REVISING DIVIDEND POLICY A more generous dividend policy and a slow-down in the net outflow of funds led to the ascent of Man, the hedge fund manager, on Thursday. The group said funds under management (FUM) at the end of February clocked in at around $59.5bn, up from the end of 2011 figure of $58.4bn, on the back of good investment performance and a significant reduction in the rate of net outflows. Meanwhile, the company announced a change to its dividend policy in which 100% of adjusted management fee earnings per share each financial year will be paid out in dividends. Shares rose 6% in the opening hour. Shares finished the day nearly 13% higher. Financial peers Hargreaves Lansdown, ICAP and Barclays were also performing well today.Advertising giant WPP was a high riser after reporting champion revenues and profits as its gears up for Olympic year. Revenues at the Dublin head-quartered company came in at £10bn, ahead of analysts' predictions of £9.9bn. Profits before tax came in at £1.4bn, against a market consensus of £1.1bn, and 17% ahead of 2010 on a constant currency basis. Mining giant Kazakhmys led the downside despite saying that 2011 revenues rose to $3,563m, from $3,237m the year before, while earnings nudged slightly higher. The group said that output of copper in 2012 should be similar to the level produced in 2011. Engineering group Weir was also firmly out of favour due to its ongoing issues in the takeover of Australian mining equipment maker Ludowici. Weir is nervously awaiting the outcome of the Review Panel of the Australian Takeovers Panel regarding the bid battle for Ludowici and has reminded the firm's shareholders that its offer will remain open for acceptance until six hours past the publication of the Panel's verdict. CWW SOARS ON TATA TAKEOVER TALKSIndian outfit Tata Communications said it is in talks with UK telecoms firm Cable and Wireless Worldwide (CWW) regarding an offer - confirming earlier speculation - stepping on the toes of Vodafone which last month revealed its interest in the company. CWW's shares surged nearly 20% early on, but finished the day up nearly 15%.According to Bloomberg, Tata must decide to whether or not to make an offer by March 29th, however Vodafone has until just March 12th. Next in line was building trade supplier Howden Joinery after it resumed dividend payment while reporting a 9% rise in full-year profits. The group, which supplies kitchen, bathroom cabinet and joinery products to small builders and trade professionals, said pre-tax profit increased to £110m in the year ended 24 December 2011 from £100.9m the year before.Communications technology company Spirent was performing well after it reported a 10% rise in annual profit after a strong performance at its major division performance analysis. Meanwhile, defence group Chemring was a heavy faller after saying that while it is trading in line with expectations, its long-serving Finance Director will step down by the end of July. BC FTSE 100 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 147.50p +12.68%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 447.60p +4.51%Essar Energy (ESSR) 109.40p +4.29%Carnival (CCL) 1,920.00p +3.90%ICAP (IAP) 397.30p +3.25%WPP (WPP) 827.50p +2.99%Schroders (SDR) 1,588.00p +2.72%Wolseley (WOS) 2,500.00p +2.63%Barclays (BARC) 251.15p +2.51%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,446.00p +2.41%FTSE 100 - FallersKazakhmys (KAZ) 1,062.00p -4.24%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,030.00p -3.61%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,060.00p -2.21%Evraz (EVR) 415.00p -2.05%Cairn Energy (CNE) 338.60p -1.63%ARM Holdings (ARM) 561.00p -1.49%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,572.00p -1.19%Glencore International (GLEN) 427.15p -1.12%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 162.80p -0.85%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 27.75p -0.61%FTSE 250 - RisersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 31.98p +14.71%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 125.50p +8.00%Spirent Communications (SPT) 151.80p +7.74%Ocado Group (OCDO) 100.00p +7.47%AZ Electronic Materials SA (DI) (AZEM) 299.60p +5.87%Unite Group (UTG) 195.80p +5.84%Hays (HAS) 85.25p +5.83%Michael Page International (MPI) 477.70p +5.31%Telecom Plus (TEP) 640.00p +4.32%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 128.00p +4.15%FTSE 250 - FallersPetropavlovsk (POG) 675.50p -5.98%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 105.00p -5.41%Chemring Group (CHG) 418.60p -4.60%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 527.00p -3.66%Drax Group (DRX) 505.00p -2.70%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 457.70p -2.62%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 498.60p -2.43%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 810.00p -2.41%Lamprell (LAM) 332.50p -2.21%Genus (GNS) 1,338.00p -2.19%