FTSE soars amid massive US bail-out

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Millions of people found the value of their savings and pensions had risen after the FTSE rocketed by almost 9%.

The US government's promise of one of its biggest financial rescue plans triggered surges on stock markets around the world.

The FTSE added £103 billion to the value of Britain's biggest companies after the US vowed to spend "hundreds of billions" of dollars to mop up the global financial crisis.

Financial stocks were the top performing shares, led by NatWest owner Royal Bank of Scotland which posted a 32% rise, Barclays up 29% and Lloyds TSB up 20%.

It caps one of the most eventful weeks in financial history, which included a run on Halifax Bank of Scotland shares that prompted a £12 billion rescue by Lloyds TSB, the £47.2bn bail-out of the US's biggest insurance firm AIG, and the collapse of the venerated US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said his government would act to remove the mortgage assets clogging up banks' balance sheets.

"The federal government must implement a programme to remove these illiquid assets that are weighing down our financial institutions and threatening our economy," he said.

Asked how big the package would be, Mr Paulson said: "Hundreds of billions of dollars."

New York's benchmark Dow Jones industrials index closed 368.75 higher, or 3.35%, to 11,388 after having been up as much as 463.36 during the day's trading.