The FTSE 100 ended Friday up 2.69 per cent to 4,387.14.

Over the week the index was up 0.22 per cent – as an early rally was wiped out by drops yesterday after the Bank of England panicked markets with its 1.5 per cent base rate cut.

On Friday the biggest gains went to Legal & General rising 123.68 per cent – for no clear reason – to 170p.

The late massive rise in the L&G share price accounted for 24 points of the 115 point gain recorded by the FTSE 100.

For some reason 1.95 million shares changed hands at 170p during the end of day auction – with speculation it was a slip of the fingers by a weary Friday afternoon trader.

British Airways was up 11.80 per cent – despite a 90 per cent drop in profits in the headwinds of high oil prices and skint consumers not wishing to fly – while Autonomy gained 7.34 per cent, Lloyds TSB was up 6.88 per cent and Kazakhmys gained 5.74 per cent.

3i Group was down 6.84 per cent, Liberty International fell 5.42 per cent, Petrofac slipped 5.36 per cent, ICAP was down 4.49 per cent and cruise operator Carnival fell 2.86 per cent.

In Europe the Cac40 and Dax were up 2.42 per cent and 2.59 per cent respectively, while in New york the Dow stood at 8,858.19 up 1.87 per cent at 12:52 EST (17:52 GMT).

Ryan Kneale, market analyst at BetsForTraders.com, said: “This latest rally is being driven by rising commodity prices and the major indices are quite literally being dragged up by the miners and the oil companies.

“As things stand the markets are being politically driven and we expect this to continue over the next few weeks as things start to settle down.”