By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks posted solid gains Wednesday in the last full trading session before the Christmas holiday, with banks and oil producers leading the rise.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,375, +45.86, +0.86%) rose 38.33 points, or 0.7%, to 5,366.99. The index has risen 21% since the start of the year, but is still down around 21% from its level in late 2007.
Other major European indexes were also higher Wednesday. Also see Europe Markets.
The major oil producers continued their rally from the last couple of sessions, with BP (UK:BP. 604.80, +7.25, +1.21%) (BP 57.48, +0.24, +0.42%) rising 1.2% and Royal Dutch Shell (UK:RDSA 1,885, +17.00, +0.91%) (RDS.A 59.94, +0.70, +1.18%) adding 1%.
Crude oil prices edged higher, with the February-dated light crude contract rising 30 cents to $74.70 a barrel in electronic trading.
The banking sector was higher across the board, with Barclays (UK:BARC 277.30, +4.85, +1.78%) (BCS 17.71, -0.02, -0.11%) leading the gains with a rise of 1.6% followed by the emerging markets-focused Standard Chartered (UK:STAN 1,581, +35.00, +2.26%) , which rose 1.4%.
The gains for U.K. stocks came after a strong session on Wall Street, with both the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 climbing to new 2009 closing highs.
Mining stocks were also mostly higher, with Rio Tinto (UK:RIO 3,273, +58.00, +1.80%) (RTP 207.80, +3.63, +1.78%) adding 1.3% and Kazakhmys (UK:KAZ 1,274, +29.00, +2.33%) rising 1.6%.
Also in the sector, silver miner Fresnillo (UK:FRES 760.50, +9.50, +1.26%) said that Minera Penmon, its 56% owned joint venture with Newmont Mining Corp., has submitted a binding proposal to buy Canplats Resources Corporation for C$4.40 a share.
Canplats had agreed to be bought by Goldcorp Inc. but believes the Penmont offer is a "superior proposal."
