The FTSE 100 bounced back from Tuesday's losses yesterday, gaining 0.8% to close at 5,436. Miners were among the day's best performers, spurred by rising metals prices. The record gold price left Lonmin and Randgold among the top climbers, up 3.2% and 3% respectively. BHP Billiton added 3.1%, and Anglo American rose 2.7%, but Trio Tinto and Fresnillo lost 0.8% and 0.4% respectively.
Energy stocks made modest gains, with Royal Dutch Shell and BP rising 0.5%, and BG Group gaining 1.3%
Banks were largely positive, with Barclays climbing 0.7% and HSBC 0.6%; but RBS slipped 1.5%.
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Pharmaceutical companies also fared well: Astrazeneca added 2.5%, while GSK and Shire both rose 1.4%.
Read the latest stock market news and charts here.
Europe
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 25 points to end at 3,809; and the German Xetra Dax was up 33 points at 5,803.
US
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average went in to the Thanksgiving holiday up 0.3% at 10,464; the wider S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 1,110; and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% to 2,176.
Asia
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.6% to close at 9,383; while the broader Topix index lost 0.5% to 829. In China, the Shanghai Composite index fell 3.6% to 3,170; and the CSI 300 lost 4% to 3,485.
Commodities
Brent spot was trading at $77.13 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $76.98. Spot gold was trading at $1,186 an ounce, silver was at $18.52 and platinum was at $1,459.
Currencies
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.6537 and against the euro at 1.0969. The dollar was trading at 0.6634 against the euro and 86.92 against the Japanese yen.
UK news
And today, a review drawn up by Sir David Walker recommends that banks be forced to disclose the pay of any staff who earn more than £1m. He also recommends that shareholders sign up to an independently-monitored 'Stewardship Code'. Alistair Darling said: "The Government strongly supports his recommendations and will take steps to implement them as soon as possible."
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