A surge in metal prices and continued gains in the oil price helped to boost the mining and oil sector, shoring up gains on London markets. The oil price rose by more than $1 to trade above $74 a barrel, hitting a high for 2009, as good economic data from America helped to drive the price of crude toward the $75 level that it reached in October last year.

It was also a strong day for copper prices and for gold, which hit a weekly high before falling back.

Royal Dutch Shell rose 47p to £16.30, while BP added 10¾p to close at 527¾p. Higher metal prices helped to drive gains in mining stocks: Lonmin rose 48p to £14.88, while Anglo American, up 69p at £19.84, and Antofagasta, up 24½p at 780½p, also shone.

The FTSE 100 rose 94.31 points to 4,850.89 in buoyant trading. Early-morning strength on commodities prices was bolstered by encouraing housing data from America.

Meanwhile, a surprise statement from Tottenham Hotspur Football Club had pulses racing. The North London club, which at present sits on top of the Premier League table — albeit after a mere two matches so far this season — announced a placing of new shares to raise £15 million. The club said that the placing represented the first stage of its plan to raise the cash it needs to build a new stadium. Most of the 30 million shares placed were taken up by ENIC, the majority shareholder. Tottenham shares closed 4p higher at 86p.

Large-cap insurers had a strong day after Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, published a sector review. Legal & General proved the main beneficiary after the bank reiterated its “conviction buy” rating on the stock. It rose 4p to 77¾p, while Aviva, up 21½p at 410¾p, and Old Mutual, up 2¾p at 92¼p, also performed well.

Intertek, the testing specialist, was boosted by a positive report from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, which upgraded its rating on the stock to “buy” from “underperform”. It rose 29p to 1,173p.

With sentiment so positive, only a handful of FTSE 100 stocks closed in negative territory — six to be exact. WPP ceded some of Thursday’s gains, slipping 3p to 504½p ahead of first-half results next week. Although organic review growth will be in focus, the real interest will be around the strength of the balance sheet. Recent speculation has suggested that a rights issue or placing may be in the offing to protect its credit rating. Charles Stanley is forecasting a resilient performance but may review its “accumulate” rating after the results.

Meanwhile, Sage, the software developer, led the FTSE 100 fallers after shedding 4½p to 220¼p. That followed fourth-quarter results by Intuit, its American rival, which missed forecasts.

Nevertheless, TechMarketView said that Sage should be “quite pleased” as it appears that the US financial software market is stabilising and that one of its leading competitors is having internal issues.

• New York: Stocks rallied in midsession to new 2009 highs after positive comments by Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and data showing that sales of homes had risen for a fourth consecutive month. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 155.91 points at 9,505.96.

Times Recommends

• ‘Lame duck’ fear for FSA as chief quits
• Storm over bailout of EU's most ailing economy
• Northern Rock to drop 100% savings guarantee