FTSE on course to post largest weekly gain for a year

The FTSE 100 has added to recent gains in early trading this morning, raising the prospect of the index posting its largest weekly gain since last December.

The index was up 0.6% at 5,784 by late morning, and has now fully erased the losses seen last week - a 2.8% fall which represented its worst five day period since late May 2012. Today's rise puts the index up 3.2% for the week thus far, meaning it needs to add only another 10 points from its current level to surpass the 3.3% rise seen in the week to 10 June this year. The previous largest rise was the 7.5% leap seen at the start of December 2011, as equities bounced back following a torrid autumn. The index is currently up 3.8% for 2012 as a whole. SAB Miller led the blue chip inde...