London close: Strong start to 2011 continues

An afternoon rally helped the FTSE 100 build on yesterday's strong start to the year and stay at levels not seen since the first half of 2008, well in advance of the global economic crash.The turnaround in fortunes was inspired by some strong US jobs data, with payroll processor ADP reporting a record 297,000 increase in private-sector employment between November and December on a seasonally adjusted basis.Miners were a drag on London's leading share index though, with the likes of Antofagasta, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Kazakhmys falling back in line with softer metals prices. Retailers were in focus, with Next one of the top risers in the FTSE 100 after the fashion chain said it remains on track to meet full-year profit forecasts even though it lost an estimated £22m of full price sales in the run-up to Christmas due to the snow. Like for like sales between 1 August and 24 December tumbled 6.1%, worse than analysts expected.Analysts are trying to spot the next retailer likely to blame bad weather for a disappointing Christmas and Nick Bubb at Arden Partners has suggested car parts and bikes seller Halfords is a likely candidate.Meanwhile, entertainment media retailer HMV is in serious strife with a warning that it may struggle to meet bank covenants after sales tumbled in December. "Given the difficult trading conditions over Christmas and the likely outturn for the year, the board now expects that compliance with the April covenant test under the group's bank facility will be tight and is taking further mitigating actions during the next four months to address this," it said. Also in retail, miniature war games specialist Games Workshop has admitted a drop in sales means full-year profits will miss estimates. "The board of Games Workshop currently believes that, as a result of reduced volumes, pre-tax profits in respect of the year ending 29 May 2011 are unlikely to meet current market consensus estimates," it said Wednesday.Chip designers were in favour ahead of the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, which boots up tomorrow. ARM and CSR headed the lists of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 risers, respectively.Fast growing pizza delivery firm Domino's Pizza will deliver an extra topping of profits after a strong finish to the year. System sales for the 13 week period to 26 December increased by 17.8% to £132.5m from £112.4m in the corresponding period of 2009.Another delivery firm, Ocado, is having a much better 2011 so far than it did 2010. The online grocer's shares were up again now trade comfortably above their flotation price of 180p. AB Foods and Marks & Spencer are lower after a report that the cost of a loaf of bread is set to rise this month after UK wheat prices hit an all-time high. Industry executives and traders have quietly told wholesale consumers, such as bakers and pasta and biscuit producers, to expect price increases over the next two to three weeks, following a round of hikes in October and November, the FT reports.Oil fabrications giant Petrofac has confirmed the appointment of Andy Inglis, the former head of BP's exploration and production and who was in charge of safety at the time of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.Panmure Gordon has mixed feelings about the appointment. "It is excellent that Petrofac has managed to get such a high profile individual to run its upstream business. However, we believe that this could well signal that the company is now looking at putting major investment into the upstream side of the business, having recently demerged its UK E&P [exploration and production] business. We believe that this will move the company further down the hybrid route (oil services and E&P) rather than a pure oil service play and, as such, will make the company less easy to value combining an earnings valuation (oil services) with a DCF [discounted cash flow] based valuation (E&P)."India-focused Hardy Oil and Gas has plugged and abandoned the KG-D9-B3 well on its D9 (KG-DWN-2001/1) exploration licence. Hardy's second exploratory well in the Krishna Godavari basin on the East Coast of India drilled down 3,829 metres. There were gas shows of 6-9%, but tests suggests water gradient in the sand packages. Oil explorer Gulf Keystone shares picked up after a bullish update on its Shaikan-3 shallow appraisal well, which tested the Cretaceous intervals in the immediate vicinity its huge Shaikan-1 discovery. As a result of the tests, log evaluations and recovered fluid samples, Gulf Keystone's current P50 (probable) to P10 (possible) estimate of Garagu oil in place volumes is 220m to 2.2bn barrels. Trading has continued to improve at banking software company Gresham Computing which made a profit in the fourth quarter. Business had already improved during the first three quarters of 2010 when the company returned to a first half profit of £0.1m.Mariana Resources, the exploration and development company focused on Argentina and Chile, said it has plenty of cash to embark on its work programme for 2011 but will need to raise more to finish it.FTSE 100 - RisersARM Holdings (ARM) 471.40p +7.65%Next (NXT) 2,103.00p +4.37%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 103.40p +3.19%Vodafone Group (VOD) 175.30p +3.15%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 689.00p +3.13%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,303.00p +3.09%Barclays (BARC) 281.00p +3.02%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,346.00p +2.91%Cairn Energy (CNE) 442.20p +2.46%National Grid (NG.) 579.00p +1.94%FTSE 100 - FallersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,586.00p -2.22%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 600.00p -2.20%WPP (WPP) 780.50p -2.19%Wolseley (WOS) 2,045.00p -2.01%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,120.00p -1.93%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,744.00p -1.75%Anglo American (AAL) 3,348.50p -1.72%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,090.00p -1.64%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,624.00p -1.52%Invensys (ISYS) 355.80p -1.47%FTSE 250 - RisersCSR (CSR) 377.70p +7.82%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 419.10p +5.83%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 483.00p +5.53%Regus (RGU) 91.95p +5.33%Chemring Group (CHG) 3,184.00p +5.05%Keller Group (KLR) 671.00p +4.44%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 388.50p +4.35%SVG Capital (SVI) 221.00p +3.76%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 866.50p +3.52%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 169.60p +3.41%FTSE 250 - FallersDairy Crest Group (DCG) 395.20p -4.98%Savills (SVS) 363.20p -4.92%FirstGroup (FGP) 394.00p -4.51%Hays (HAS) 127.90p -4.27%Ashtead Group (AHT) 164.70p -4.08%ITE Group (ITE) 242.10p -3.97%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 610.00p -3.94%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 33.70p -3.85%WH Smith (SMWH) 482.80p -3.82%Elementis (ELM) 136.70p -3.60%