London shares close higher

London shares closed higher on Monday amid growing hopes that the European Central Bank could unveil a bond-buying programme later this week.

The benchmark FTSE 100 index closed 0.82 percent higher at 5,805.34 points.

This week's focus will be the European Central Bank's meeting on Thursday, amid mounting expectations that its president Mario Draghi could unveil a bond-buying plan to boost debt-laden nations like Italy and Spain.

"The euro remains relatively stable at the start of a key week for the eurozone crisis, with the ECB monetary policy press conference on Thursday expected to be the event when we get further details on the bond-buying programme," said economist Derek Halpenny at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Miners Fresnillo and Kazakhyms led the gainers. Fresnillo gained 4.23% to 1627 pence, while Kazakhyms added 2.87% to close at 610 pence.

Insurance company Admiral Group shed 3.04% to close at 1150 pence, while ARM Holdings fell 2.53% to end the day at 559 pence.

Sterling climbed to $1.5888 at 5.14 pm from $1.5861 on Friday evening but dropped to 1.2616 euros from 1.2627 during the same period.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/london-shares-close-higher-162551030.html

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