A fall in consumer price inflation to a 14-month low of 3.6% in January, as last year's VAT rise dropped out of the figures, helped sentiment.
Analysts took a sanguine view of the "negative outlook" slapped on the UK by ratings agency Moody's on Monday night, with 10 pundits polled by Reuters predicting on average a less than 30% probability of a downgrade later in the year. Moody's issues a negative outlook if there is a one in three chance of a downgrade.
