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FTSE 100 Fights Back After US-Inspired Slump

The FTSE 100 has staged an end-of-week fightback to recover from a US-inspired slump that saw £29bn wiped off the value of its constituent companies in the previous session.

Thursday's fall of 112.4 points , or 1.83%, was the biggest one-day decline in percentage terms since global markets were convulsed by turbulence three months ago.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) came after the US Federal Reserve took markets by surprise when policy makers signalled a likely interest rate hike next month – worrying investors who have been buoyed by near zero rates in the world's biggest economy over the last several years as it recovered from recession.

But in the final session of the week, the FTSE recovered almost all of the previous day's losses by climbing 103 points, or 1.7%, to 6156.3, despite the day being thin on the ground for economic news. It was the biggest one-day rise for just over a month.

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Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, said: "After charging higher at the open, London's FTSE 100 has done a sterling effort of holding onto those gains through the session despite the abject lack of fresh fundamental data to work on.

"The concerns of a US rate hike that were largely responsible for driving yesterday's sell-off have been sidelined, although the market still seems to be thinking that the chance of monetary policy tightening in June remains well below 50%."

Miners badly hit by Thursday's sell-off were among those recovering, led by a 4% rise for Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) . Also among the climbers were Whitbread – owner of Premier Inn and Costa Coffee – and house builders, including Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) and Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW.L - news) .

Markets in Europe and the US were ahead, too.