Footsie cheered by Chinese economic growth figures

America's Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its highest level of the

year – past 11,100 – after a batch of better-than-expected earnings from construction firm Caterpillar and fast food chain McDonald's.

The FTSE 100 Index also remained near to its highest point since April after lifting 28.93 points to close at 5757.86, despite there being weaker-than-expected retail sales and a decline in oil prices.

The cost of crude slipped to around 82 US dollars a barrel as a stronger US currency made dollar-based commodities more expensive for investors with other currencies.

The poor retail sales data sent sterling to a six-and-a-half-month low against the euro – at 1.13 euros – on renewed fears of more

quantitative easing from the Bank of England.

Among stocks, BP was down 27/8p to 4321/2p while exploration firm Tullow Oil dropped 26p to 1227p after it said drilling at its Inyina-1 well in Ghana had found water instead of oil.

The biggest top-flight fall came from TUI Travel after it announced the resignation of its chief financial officer and said it would restate its earnings for the last financial year.

The group admitted it will have to write off a total of 117m due to its failure to reconcile the separate accounting systems used in the retail and tour operator businesses within TUI UK. Shares slumped 11 per cent, or 253/8p to 205p as TUI also revealed a slowdown in UK bookings growth for this winter.

BT shares soared more than 4 per cent after a High Court judge ruled the pension liabilities of employees who joined the company after privatisation would be covered by the Government if the group went bust.

The Government had argued that its liabilities should only extend to those employees who joined the pension scheme before BT was privatised in 1984. Shares were up 61/8p to 1561/4p.

Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline reported a 147m hit after writing off

stocks of its controversial diabetes drug Avandia.

European regulators last month suspended Avandia and further strict restrictions were placed on its US sales following the evidence linking the treatment to an increased risk of heart attack.

Glaxo shares fell 17p to 1275p.

Consumer goods firms dominated the risers' board after Guinness firm Diageo added 27p to 1187p, Unilever lifted 46p to 1846p and Reckitt Benckiser cheered 134p to 3550p.

In the FTSE 250 Index, bookmaker William Hill was up 71/4p to 1687/8p after it said a run of more favourable sporting results in the third quarter meant operating profits should be at the top end of forecasts.

And drinks firm Britvic added 263/4p to 4971/4p after Altium Securities upgraded the stock to buy from hold following a strong full-year trading update.

At Debenhams, investors were cheered by a return to like-for-like sales growth and a pledge by the company to reinstate dividends in 2011. With full-year pre-tax profits up 20 per cent, shares lifted 5p to 761/2p, or 7 per cent.

The biggest Footsie risers of the session were BT, Reckitt Benckiser, Invensys up 111/2p to 3201/2p and Intercontinental Hotels ahead 43p to stand at 1215p.

The biggest Footsie fallers were TUI Travel, Autonomy off 44p to 1461p, Randgold Resources down 130p to 6045p and Tullow Oil.