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The Dow Jones opened today up 1.50 per cent at 16:53 BST, while London's initial jump of 3.81 per cent was frozen by a computer crash.

Gains were spurred by the US government's decision to, in effect, nationalise mortgage-backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The rallying started overnight in Asia with the Nikkei closing up 3.38 per cent and the Hang Seng up 4.32 per cent.

In Europe, the Dax in Frankfurt rose 2.19 per cent and the Cac 40 in Paris was up 3.18 per cent, seeing no falls.

In London, the FTSE 100 spent the day up 3.81 per cent after a "connectivity issue" stopped prices reaching traders from 09:15 BST.

The index eventually closed up 3.92 per cent to 5,446.30.

Financials were spurred by the US decision – with Schroders Non-voting and normal shares up 12.56 per cent and 11.83 per cent respectively, while Barclays rose 11.90 per cent and HBOS climbed 11.71 per cent.

Miner BHP Billiton was up 11.27 per cent.

Only four firms in the FTSE 100 saw falls – with Unilever down 2.83 per cent, GlaxoSmithKline dropping 1.61 per cent, TUI Travel losing 0.69 per cent and Associated British Foods down 0.44 per cent, despite Primark seeing rising like-for-like sales.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said: "Of course it is difficult to say too much about UK stocks today as trading has been suspended since the early morning.

"Before this morning’s technical issues raised their head, the big news for the market was of course the bail out by the US government of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The more optimistic out there see this as the event that could well signal the beginning of the end for the credit crunch and it has certainly put a rocket under the share prices of financial companies today with double digit percentage gains so far for the likes of Barclays and HBOS."

He added: "Today is something of a kneejerk reaction following the shock news on Sunday. The true market feeling on how the US government’s intervention in the mortgage markets affects the economic landscape should become clearer as the week progresses - technology permitting."