London close: US sentiment data sparks late rally

- US consumer sentiment at post-recession high- Banks weighed down by JP Morgan surprise trading loss- Miners pressured lower by Chinese dataAfter a weak start, the FTSE 100 surged in afternoon trade on the back of some upbeat consumer sentiment data Stateside which helped to offset gloomy economic figures from China. The Footsie surged by 80 points or so in the final two hours of trade to finish firmly in positive territory.Stocks rallied following a strong start on Wall Street, as the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan-Thomson Reuters index showed that US consumer sentiment rose to its highest levels since January 2008. The index showed a reading of 77.8 for May, up from 76.4 the month before. Chinese industrial production increased by 9.3% year-on-year (y/y) last month, down from the 11.9% rise in March and well below the 12.2% gain expected - this was the lowest growth rate since May 2009. Fixed asset investment growth slowed from 20.9% to 20.2% in April, its worst level since late 2002. Meanwhile, Chinese consumer price inflation slowed from 3.6% to 3.4% in April, under the government's 4% target again, fuelling speculation for further monetary easing from authorities. UK banking stocks were under pressure today after US investment bank JP Morgan Chase & Co shocked the market after the bell on Thursday by revealing its second-quarter performance will be dented by a huge trading loss on synthetic credit securities at its Chief Investment Office. The firm said that so far the losses amounted to $2bn but could "easily increase during the quarter". In domestic news, UK producer output prices in April were up 3.3% from the year before, having been up 3.7% y/y in March. The good news was that April's y/y increase was the lowest since December 2009; the bad news was that the market had been expecting an increase of just 2.9% The European Commission (EC) said today that the Eurozone is in a "mild recession" but a recovery is "forecast to set in slowly from the second half of the year on." For 2012 as a whole, GDP is expected to contract by 0.3% and then expand by 1% in 2013.As part of its spring economic forecasts this morning, the EC said that Spain's budget deficit is likely to reach 6.4% of GDP this year, compared to the 5.3% target promised by the Spanish government. The news saw the yield on a Spanish 10-year bond jump back over the 6% mark.FTSE 100: Defensives in demand, banks and miners under pressure.Defensive stocks were among the best performers by the close with the banking and mining sectors being sold off as investors shied away from risk. Real estate investment trust Hammerson was making strong gains on the back of M&A speculation yesterday which suggested that retail landlord Westfield could be considering a big for the property group.Utilities were also in demand with Severn Trent, United Utilities and National Grid finishing firmly higher. Centrica rose after higher gas and power prices offset lower usage levels in the first quarter meaning that the gas and electricity provider was trading in line with expectations. Banks fell on the back of the JP Morgan surprise trading loss. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and HSBC were among the worst performers. One stock in the financial sector bucking the trend though was hedge fund manager Man Group which jumped after an upgrade from HSBC. Mining stocks were pushed lower after the gloomy Chinese data weighed on the demand outlook from the world's second-largest economy. Falling metals prices were also providing some downward pressure. Vedanta, Evraz, Xstrata, Glencore, Rio Tinto, ENRC and Kazakhmys were firmly out of favour. Kazakhmys announced this afternoon that is Chairman and major shareholder, Vladmir Kim, would hand over his duties to a new independent Chairman so that the company could meet regulations on corporate governance.Soaring fuel costs contributed to a larger-than-expected first quarter loss at International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) but shares edged higher as revenues grew by 7.8% y/y. FTSE 250: Debenhams leads the way after upgradeDebenhams was a high riser following an upgrade by Bank of America from neutral to buy. Analyst Aurelie Caspar said that in recent times Debenhams has "showed a department store chain with a strong multichannel offer can deliver consistent profit growth, provided the offer is sufficiently differentiated". Speciality insurance company Catlin Group also rose after seeing an increase in the amount of premiums written in the three months to the end of March, while avoiding any catastrophe claims. Overall premiums are up 12% against the prior year, totalling $1.642bn. Second-tier miners were suffering heavy losses with Bumi, Lonmin, Petra Diamonds and Ferrexpo among the worst performers.FTSE 100 - RisersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 360.00p +3.48%Hammerson (HMSO) 429.80p +3.19%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,693.00p +3.11%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,048.00p +2.91%British Land Co (BLND) 506.00p +2.87%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,228.00p +2.68%Centrica (CNA) 317.40p +2.32%Man Group (EMG) 87.90p +2.27%Land Securities Group (LAND) 751.00p +2.25%GKN (GKN) 192.80p +2.23%FTSE 100 - FallersEurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 516.50p -3.82%Xstrata (XTA) 1,052.00p -3.31%Barclays (BARC) 202.80p -2.87%Evraz (EVR) 337.40p -2.77%Glencore International (GLEN) 386.10p -2.62%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,089.00p -2.59%Sage Group (SGE) 261.70p -1.62%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 764.00p -1.55%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,595.00p -1.42%Polymetal International (POLY) 805.50p -1.35%FTSE 250 - RisersDebenhams (DEB) 80.80p +5.00%Telecity Group (TCY) 800.50p +4.50%Northgate (NTG) 202.00p +4.50%PZ Cussons (PZC) 340.10p +3.97%Home Retail Group (HOME) 81.25p +3.70%KCOM Group (KCOM) 71.50p +3.62%Perform Group (PER) 310.00p +3.33%SDL (SDL) 700.00p +3.32%TR Property Inv Trust (TRY) 151.20p +3.07%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 130.20p +3.01%FTSE 250 - FallersBumi (BUMI) 421.20p -8.95%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 16.99p -6.80%Lonmin (LMI) 900.50p -5.01%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 143.40p -4.40%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 252.80p -3.33%COLT Group SA (COLT) 114.00p -2.48%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 616.50p -2.45%Inmarsat (ISAT) 447.20p -2.40%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 302.20p -2.07%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 766.00p -1.98%BC