Source : Reuters lire le PDF

The FTSE resumed a rally that took it to its highest closing level since early February 2011 on Friday, having slipped on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

The index is now up 3.4 percent for 2013 only a week into the year, just over half the total 2012 gain of 5.8 percent.

Valerie Gastaldy, who heads up Paris-based technical analysis firm Day By Day, said the strong close above 6,090 showed that the FTSE's uptrend was on track after a couple of days of consolidation.

"What is interesting is that we've reached an important resistance area for the index, at 6,100, but the market has not seen a strong reaction yet. We could have had a 2 percent drop immediately, but we're still seeing buying pressure even though it is at a strong resistance," she said.

"At this important resistance level, the bears don't seem to be taking over."