The bookies were toasting their Grand National bonanza today. Ladbrokes surged 9¾p to 211¾p and William Hill put on 10¼p to 206½p after 100/1 outsider Mon Mome won Saturday's big race.

The horse was the longest-priced for more than four decades to claim victory in the National, making bookmakers among the race's biggest beneficiaries. William Hill took fewer than 2000 bets on the horse.

Shares in London clawed back some of Friday's losses, inspired by gains in Asia this morning and the Dow closing above 8000 in New York on Friday. The FTSE 100 index jumped 49.74 points to 4079.41, with dealers predicting a thin day of trading because of the Easter exodus.

The oil price climbed back above $53 a barrel today, but brokers are getting less keen on the titans of black gold. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has downgraded Royal Dutch Shell from buy to neutral and trimmed its price target from 1850p to 1650p, warning that margins will be under pressure for the rest of this year and into next.

Shell's recent strategy presentation has dented analysts' hopes that the performance of its exploration and production arm will improve. Merrill now reckons volumes will fall in 2009 and 2010 before a modest recovery the following year. Shell A shares were up 8p at 1555p while the B shares were flat at 1517p.

HSBC rose 9½p to 444¼p after revealing that its record £12.5 billion cash call won the backing of the market, with investors snapping up 96.6% of the stock on offer. Underwriters were today placing the rump - the 172.7 million shares not taken up. The rights issue has improved HSBC's capital ratios by 150 basis points (1.5 percentage points), and will help offset losses from its US business, which is being wound down.

AIM-listed climate-change group Camco rose 1¼p to 10½p after posting its maiden profit. It made pre-tax profits of €2.2 million (£2 million) last year after a loss of €12.2 million in 2007.

Tokyo shares briefly touched a three-month high as hopes grew that the worst may be over for the US economy, and exporters such as Sony gained on the yen's fall against the dollar. There was no market fallout from yesterday's launch by North Korea of a long-range rocket that flew over Japan.

Carmakers extended last week's sharp gains, the transport sub-index hitting a five-month high as the dollar powered close to 101 yen at one stage. A report that Japan is considering green-car subsidies also provided a lift.

Growing optimism about the US economy, fed by robust results from Nasdaq-listed BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and comments by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank will do everything it can to stabilise banks, helped the market shrug off data showing the highest unemployment rate since 1983.

Technology shares surged on Wall Street on Friday and were strong performers in Tokyo as well.

The Nikkei 225 Average closed 108.09 higher at 8857.93. Many investors had thought 9000 was well within the Nikkei's grasp, but they were divided on how long and how far it is likely to rise after that.

Hong Kong shares climbed on growing hopes that the global downturn is nearing an end. Property counters were in the spotlight on reports of improved apartment sales and signs of an early recovery in a sector that has been among the worst hit by recession.

HSBC shares jumped to five-week highs after the succes of its rights issue. Demand in Hong Kong - where HSBC is a market darling and referred to as "big elephant" - was 98.2%.

The stock was up 4.3% at HK$51.55 after earlier hitting HK$51.70 - its highest since the cash call was announced on 2 March. HSBC shares have soared 62% from a 14-year low of HK$30.55 four weeks ago.

The Hang Seng index rose 299.03 points to 14,844.72.