By Simon Kennedy

U.K. shares rose in the final session of the week, with banks and insurance stocks leading a broad-based advance.

Among banking stocks, Barclays (BCS) rose 3%, Lloyds Banking Group (LYG) climbed 2.4% and HSBC (HBC) added 6.7%.

In the insurance sector, Old Mutual added 2.1% and Prudential gained 1.2%.

More broadly, the main U.K. FTSE 100 Index closed up 1.1%, or 41.62 points, to 3,753.68. The index has gained about 7% over the week, posting gains in four of the weeks' five sessions.

The rise in financial stocks followed strong gains for U.S. markets Thursday, helped by Bank of America Corp. CEO Ken Lewis' comments that the group will post a profit in 2009 and won't need further government funding.

U.S. stocks started higher Friday but turned lower a few hours into the session.

Among other sectors, mining stocks rose as commodity prices gained.

Xstrata gained 10.3% and BHP Billiton gained 2.2%.

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon climbed about 12.5% after it announced that comparable sales in the six weeks to March 8 rose 1.9% and total sales rose 5.6%.

Profit in the six months to Jan. 26 was down 5.5%, but revenue for the period was around 6.5% higher. The group also provided some reassurance over its financing with the announcement of a new 20-million pound bank facility from Abbey Santander.

"JD Wetherspoon is materially outperforming a poor market and is growing in absolute terms. It is turning up the heat on its competitors and to be increasing like-for-like sales in the current environment is a remarkable achievement," said analysts at BlueOar Securities in London.

Shares in rival pub operator and brewer Greene King climbed around 2.2%.

SABMiller added 2.5% after it announced that its CR Snow joint venture in China has agreed to acquire the brewing assets of Shangdong Hupo Brewery in a $42 million deal.

Outside the top index, shares in Irish media group Independent News & Media surged about 60% after the newspaper publisher said CEO Anthony O'Reilly will retire on May 7.

Anthony O'Reilly is the largest shareholder in the firm, which publishes The Independent newspaper in the U.K., with a 28.5% stake. He will be succeeded by his son Gavin O'Reilly, currently chief operating officer.

Shares in advertising group WPP were among the decliners -- losing 4.7% after Morgan Stanley cut its price target, saying the market is underestimating the pressure European advertising agencies will face on their revenues into 2010.