Choppy FTSE rises amid data blizzard as banks gain
* FTSE 0.9 percent higher
* HBOS leads banks higher as asset sale talk swirls
* Oil shares slip as crude falls from record levels
By Michael Taylor
LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index ended up almost 1 percent during an extremely volatile trading session on Thursday, as data led stocks on a rollercoaster ride with banks rising and oil companies falling.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE gained 50.3 points, or 0.9 percent at 5,476.6 having touched a five-month low earlier in the day. The index is down 15 percent so far in 2008.
Thursday was dominated by data from across the Atlantic, the English Channel and closer to home.
The U.S. Labor Department said that 62,000 nonfarm jobs were lost last month, bringing jobs shed for the year so far to 438,000 as housing market woes chilled growth. The unemployment rate, which shot up sharply in May, held steady at 5.5 percent. [ID:nN03278198] Continued...
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