Markets: Draghi’s move helps FTSE to rise 2%

LONDON’S top share index jumped more than 2 per cent yesterday after the European Central Bank (ECB) unveiled a bond-buying programme aimed at lowering the borrowing costs of struggling peripheral nations.

Although the measures had been widely trailed, the FTSE 100 index closed 119.5 points higher at 5,777.3, while European markets were even more bullish; Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac-40 both added nearly 3 per cent.

Michael Hewson, senior analyst at CMC Markets, said: “European equity markets liked what they heard from Mario Draghi this afternoon with respect to his plans to save the euro. There wasn’t anything there to scare the horses, even if some of the details were a bit vague.”