FTSE ends up as BA and oils leap

By Rebekah Curtis

LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 rose 2.17 percent on Friday, weathering worse-than-expected U.S. jobs data as oil shares strode higher and British Airways (BAY.L) leapt after holding its profit forecast.

The FTSE 100 closed up 92.55 points at 4,364.96. The index bounced from a 5.7 percent slump on Thursday, when the Bank of England's surprisingly large 150 basis point rate cut failed to quell investors' jitters.

British Airways climbed 11.9 percent after the airline stuck to its forecast for a small operating profit this year and lifted its revenue target.

U.S. and European markets bounced from their previous session's hefty losses, with bargain-hunting helping to eclipse the grim U.S. data.

"The market was braced for a bad figure and is clearly expecting a rate cut," Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of private client research at Charles Stanley, said of the jobs data.

Job losses in October were worse than feared, with employers cutting payrolls by 240,000, according to the Labour Department. The unemployment rate shot up to 6.5 percent from 6.1 percent in September, its highest since 1994.

U.S. president-elect Barack Obama was to meet his economic advisers on Friday as the data underlined the enormity of the economic crisis.

The FTSE 100 has fallen 32 percent so far this in a global equities sell-off as investors have feared the world economy may be heading into a deep and prolonged recession.