The Footsie held near a new high for the year at lunchtime, driven by strong commodity stocks thanks to upbeat China trade data and after oil prices yesterday hit 2016 highs, although retail giant Tesco remained a big casualty as a cautious outlook clouded its return to annual profits. By mid session, the FTSE 100 was up 88.6 points, or 1.4 per cent at 6,331.0, just easing off the day's peak of 6,341.78, which was the index's highest level since early December.