Strong gains in the oil, mining and retail sectors helped give the equity market in London a positive start to the new year.

Blue chip stocks closed at their highest level in two and a half weeks with the FTSE 100 up 87.07 points, or 1.07%, to end the day at 8,260.09.

Investors were encouraged by expectations of a further stimulus in China to boost its flagging economy. Endeavour Mining was up 70p to 1495p, Rolls-Royce, up 19.8p to 588.4p, and Glencore, up 9.25p at 362.65p.

Wood Group rose 1.7p (2.59%) to 67.3p after closing the sale of its stake in Ethos Energy Group, a joint venture focused on rotating equipment, to One Equity Partners for $138 million. The sale was announced in August.

Oil prices also gained, giving a boost to Shell, BP and British Gas-owner Centrica. Brent Crude Futures were up 2.38% to $76.42 at the close of equity trading.

Among companies making declarations, supermarket group Lidl reported a 7% rise in Christmas sales year-on-year, as turnover passed £1 billion over the four weeks to 24 December.

Other big risers on the FTSE 100 were Marks & Spencer, up 13.8p to 389.3p, as analysts forecast the high street giant had a good Christmas.

The biggest fallers included housebuilders Barratt Redrow, down 5.5p to 434.6p, and Persimmon, down 14p to 1184p.