Britain's leading shares soared almost 10 per cent today, its biggest one-day gain on record, boosted by Chancellor Alistair Darling’s plans to revive the UK economy and helped by the weekend bail-out of US banking giant Citigroup.

The FTSE-100 index of the UK's top 100 companies surged 372.12 points to 4153.08, up 9.84 per cent.

The Footsie, which had lost 11.5 per cent last week to finish at its lowest level in five and a half years, was also boosted by banking stocks. Barclays rose by almost 10 per cent, as shareholders approved its controversial £7billion fundraising, while HBOS rose by almost 18 per cent.

The pound added 1.75 per cent against the dollar to $1.5148.

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Adam Cole, global head of foreign exchange at RBC Capital Markets in London said: “When we begin to get some sense that the easing is working, that’s the point at which we’ll see more buying in sterling.” He said this could start next year.

Across Europe, stock markets also rose, with Germany’s Dax index rising by more than 10 per cent and the CAC-40 in France finishing 9.4 per cent ahead. Crude oil prices rose above $51 a barrel, ahead of expected production cuts from the Opec cartel of oil-producing nations this weekend.

Britain’s Debt Management Office revised up its planned gilt sales in this financial year by £36.4 billion to a record £146.4 billion ($218.3 billion), and said it would hold 10 additional gilt auctions.

Gilts extended losses on the news, with two-year yields up 12 basis points to 2.09 percent, having already risen significantly before the pre-budget report.

The revision came after finance minister Alistair Darling presented new significantly higher borrowing forecasts in the

pre-budget report. The DMO had already scheduled an extra seven gilt auctions between October and December to fund the government’s 37 billion pound bank recapitalisation plan.

In is Pre-Budget Statement, Mr Darling raised his forecast for government borrowing to £78 billion in 2008/9 from an estimate of £43 billion made in March.

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