The Bank of England
Bank of England keeps interest rates at 0.5% Reuters

The FTSE 100 was boosted on 9 July after the Bank of England announced it would hold interest rates steady at 0.5% and maintain its £375bn quantitative easing programme.

Stock markets throughout Europe rose on the hope that a solution to Greece's debt will be found this weekend at an emergency EU summit.

"Associated British Foods made strong gains as sales from its Primark business offset a sharp drop in sugar production," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

"The increase in Primark's sales, which were up 13% in the first 40 weeks of the year, has been driven by an 8% increase in selling space and very high sales densities in stores opened in the past year."

Overall the FTSE 100 gained 1.40% to close at 6,581.63.

After losing more than 35% of share values on 8 July on news in the budget that the Climate Change Levy exemption would end for renewable energy sources, the Drax Group, owners of the Drax power station, saw a 7.34% rebound in share prices.

FTSE 100 biggest risers

  • Associated British Foods Plc +149.00 (+5.08%) 3,080.00
  • Taylor Wimpey Plc +8.70 (+4.94%) 184.90
  • Hargreaves Lansdown Plc +51.00 (+4.67%) 1,142.00
  • Barratt Developments Plc +26.00 (+4.37%) 620.50
  • Mondi Plc +58.00 (+4.22%) 1,432.00

FTSE 100 biggest fallers

  • Next Plc -125.00 (-1.67%) 7,355.00
  • Randgold Resources -40.00 (-0.95%) 4,182.00
  • Sainsbury (J) Plc -1.00 (-0.39%) 253.50
  • Sports Direct Intl Plc -2.50 (-0.35%) 706.50
  • Rolls Royce Holdings Plc -1.50 (-0.20%) 757.00

FTSE AIM 100 biggest risers

  • Fevertree Drinks Plc +21.00 (+6.65%) 337.00
  • RWS Holdings Plc +7.50 (+5.94%) 133.75
  • Gooch & Housego +46.00 (+5.38%) 901.50
  • Petroceltic International Plc +3.75 (+4.40%) 89.00
  • Utilitywise Plc +8.50 (+3.59%) 245.00

FTSE AIM 100 biggest fallers

  • Hutchison China Meditech -157.50 (-9.05%) 1,582.50
  • Xeros Group Plc -11.75 (-4.32%) 260.00
  • Velocys Plc -4.00 (-4.17%) 92.00
  • Tissue Regenix Group Plc -0.75 (-3.90%) 18.50
  • Pan African Resources Plc -0.17 (-1.98%) 8.43
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