FTSE:5,855.95 (+89.07) Mid-250:11,799.15 (+192.77) Small Cap:3,246.21 (+19.75)

UK STOCKS climbed for a fourth day yesterday after Greek lawmakers passed a package of austerity measures needed to avoid a default.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index increased 89.07, or 1.5 per cent, to 5,855.95 at the close in London. The gauge has lost 3.9 per cent from this year’s peak in February amid concern that Greece will default on its debt.

The All-Share Index also gained 1.5 per cent yesterday.

“The affairs in Greece are dominating what is otherwise a relatively quiet market,” said Yusuf Heusen, senior sales trader at IG Index in London.

“Traders have been riding the recent wave of confidence on the broad-based assumption that the austerity vote will be passed,” he said.

Greek prime minister George Papandreou clinched enough votes to pass the first part of the austerity plan after gaining 155 votes in the 300-seat parliament.

The European Union has made the budget cuts a condition of providing further aid to the indebted country.

Antofagasta rallied 4.8 per cent to 1,365p as the company expects to benefit from increased demand for metal as China and other emerging economies develop.

Kazakhmys, Kazakhstan’s biggest copper producer, rallied 3.9 per cent to 1,350p as the company listed on the Hong Kong stock market.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, rose 2.7 per cent to 2,404.5p. Xstrata increased 4.5 per cent to 1,341.5p.

Ferrexpo, a producer of iron ore in Ukraine, gained 2.6 per cent to 469.6p after the Independent cited speculation from unidentified sources that BHP may make a takeover offer for the Baar, Switzerland-based company at a price of 650p to 700p a share.

Man rallied 3.8 per cent to 233.7p.

ITV, the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster, jumped 6.6 per cent to 71.95p after rallying more than 5 per cent in the last hour of trading.

ICAP, the world’s biggest broker of trades between banks which had lost 18 per cent this year through yesterday, surged 9.7 per cent to 478.8p.

Spencer Group paced declining shares, dropping 2 per cent to 361.6p after the Financial Times reported the retailer has begun its summer sale two weeks ahead of schedule. – (Bloomberg)