Cable & Wireless Worldwide ended the days as the strongest riser, as share price soared by 7.7 percent to 71.95p following a strong performance for the FTSE 100.

The telecommunications firm was buoyed by speculation, which suggested it was a potential acquisition target. The index itself rose by 141.19 points to finish the day at 5,366.41. It was lifted by merger & acquisition speculation and strong manufacturing data from China and the US.

Travel company TUI Travel continued to rise after a strong showing this morning as share price moved up by 7.5 per cent to 216.4p.

The firm, which last month issued a profit warning for the second half of the year, was boosted by a report in the Financial Times Deutscheland that major shareholder TUI AG was considering acquiring the shares it does not already own.

Mining group Kazakhmys saw share price jump 6.9 per cent to 1,236p.

The only faller in a good day for the index was Randgold Resources, which fell by 1.2 per cent to 6,010p.