- Schroders leads financial stocks higher as risk appetite increases.
- Manufacturing data from UK, Europe, US and China well-received.
- Greece 'one formal step away' from deal.

The Footsie finished with a triple-digit point gain on Wednesday after manufacturing data from across the globe lifted sentiment. Meanwhile, markets are still hoping that the Greek government is as close to a deal as it says in its debt-swap talks.

The seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the month of January rose to an eight-month high of 52.1, while Markit's PMI for Eurozone manufacturing set a five-month high of 48.8 compared to 46.9 in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the US ISM's manufacturing PMI rose to an eight-month high of 54.1% up from 53.1% in December (the 30th consecutive reading above 50%) while the official Chinese manufacturing PMI rose from 50.3 to 50.5.

"Following the publication today of January ISM and PMI manufacturing confidence data for various countries, our global manufacturing aggregate continues to signal that the global industrial sector is stabilising and are slightly more positive than was the case in Q4 11," said analysts at Barclays Capital.

In other news, investors seem to be showing confidence that Greece is closer to an agreement in its debt-swap talks, with the country's finance ministry Evangelos Venizelos being quoted as saying that they are "one formal step away" from a deal. A Greek spokesman has said that significant progress has been made on the second bailout deal and private sector involvement, according to market chatter.

There are rumours circulating of a so-called gross domestic product warrant, which would pay private creditors more if Greece's economy begins to expand, easing the loss that they are taking on the country's debt. According to Bloomberg, the government and bondholders are near a "tentative accord" that would include the warrants.

SCHRODERS BEATS ICAP TO THE TOP SPOT

Asset management firm Schroders was the top riser of the day, leading the financial sector higher as stocks rallied on higher risk appetite and an improving outlook for the global economy. Just six stocks finished in the red on the FTSE 100.

Inter-dealer broker ICAP rose strongly after saying profits for the current fiscal year will be towards the top end of expectations. The current range of analyst pre-tax profit forecasts for the year to March 31st runs from £336m to £358m, with a median figure of £347.4m.

Banking peers RBS, Barclays and Lloyds were making gains. Details of the much-heralded senior management shake-up at Lloyds have been revealed, with the group adopting a structure that reduces the number of bosses reporting directly to Group Chief Executive António Horta-Osório to five.

Chip designer ARM was among the few fallers of the day, pulling back after yesterday's well-received results. The Financial Times' Lex column is today singing the virtues of ARM's "strong fundamentals", but adds that the company's valuation, at 47 times expected earnings, is "through the roof."

Imperial Tobacco was performing well despite seeing reported stick equivalent volumes fall 7% in the three months to December 31st, due to the trading difficulties in Syria, Spain, USA and Ukraine.

Water utility company United Utilities is on track to deliver full year results in line with expectations on the back of a steadily rising revenue. Shares nudged higher.

Miners were making gains: Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were higher after doing a spot of trading that will see Rio gain majority control of South African miner Richards Bay Minerals; while Antofagasta rose after seeing full-year production rise 22.9% to surpass its earlier guidance after a strong end to the year. Shares dipped into the red.

FTSE 250: OCADO SOARS, AQUARIUS FALLS AFTER DOWNGRADE

Groceries delivery firm Ocado jumped nearly 13%, extending gains made yesterday when it reported that gross sales, which include revenue plus value added tax (VAT) and marketing vouchers, rose 16.6% in the 52 weeks to November 27th to £642.8m from £551.1m the year before.

Next in line was office space provider Regus which rose on Tuesday's news that it has opened a business centre in Madagascar, bringing the number of countries in which it operates up to 95.

Aquarius Platinum was among the fallers after Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the miner from neutral to underperform and cut its target price from 210p to 410p.

BC

FTSE 100 - Risers
Schroders (SDR) 1,576.00p +8.69%
ICAP (IAP) 362.00p +7.74%
Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,260.00p +5.62%
Barclays (BARC) 224.10p +5.43%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,159.00p +5.27%
Man Group (EMG) 121.70p +5.19%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 32.20p +5.16%
Glencore International (GLEN) 431.75p +5.00%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,407.00p +4.84%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,191.00p +4.84%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
ARM Holdings (ARM) 592.50p -2.79%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 682.00p -1.16%
Admiral Group (ADM) 933.00p -0.85%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 612.50p -0.41%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,450.00p -0.34%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 170.55p -0.15%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 98.15p +12.69%
Carpetright (CPR) 602.50p +9.55%
Regus (RGU) 99.35p +7.99%
Diploma (DPLM) 425.50p +7.99%
Michael Page International (MPI) 418.40p +7.53%
Savills (SVS) 361.20p +7.50%
Lamprell (LAM) 321.10p +7.21%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,010.00p +7.04%
Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 473.00p +6.53%
Northgate (NTG) 241.30p +6.44%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 13.60p -3.55%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 167.20p -1.94%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 106.00p -1.30%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 710.00p -1.11%
Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 72.75p -0.89%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 2,024.00p -0.74%
Misys (MSY) 321.20p -0.59%
Premier Oil (PMO) 409.10p -0.44%
CSR (CSR) 231.00p -0.30%
Amlin (AML) 339.10p -0.26%

Related share prices
Barclays (BARC) share price
BHP Billiton (BLT) share price
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) share price
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) share price
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) share price
Rio Tinto (RIO) share price
Schroders (SDR) share price
United Utilities Group (UU.) share price
ARM Holdings (ARM) share price
Antofagasta (ANTO) share price
ICAP (IAP) share price
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) share price
Regus (RGU) share price
Ocado Group (OCDO) share price