By Sarah Turner

British shares rose for the fourth day in a row on Friday, with investors notably buying up oil majors, as hopes for a recovery in the global economy continued to grow.

The U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 1%, or 44.97 points, to 4,801.35, a level not seen since last October.

Gains were modest in early trading but picked up through the session as investors eyed data that pointed to a continued improvement in the economic backdrop.

A closely watched gauge of economic activity across the 16-nation euro-zone private sector posted a record jump on Friday, as purchasing managers signaled that the region's battered economy stabilized in August.

Of companies advancing notably in London, airline British Airways climbed 2.9% and oil major Royal Dutch Shell saw its shares advance 0.8%.

BP shares rose 1.6% while natural-gas producer BG Group advanced 1.8% as light sweet crude-oil futures climbed $1.11 to $74.00 a barrel.

In a stronger financial sector, insurers Aviva , up 2.6%, and Legal & General , up 5.2%, both advanced.

"We believe Legal & General has been overlooked: in our view, its gearing alone should be enough to see it recover from 14-year lows if the market continues to rise," said Goldman Sachs analysts in a note on the sector.

"L&G is on the Conviction Buy List. As we return to more normal investment conditions, we anticipate far less investment variances. This, we believe, will enable the market to focus on L&G's cash-generating ability," the broker added.

Birmingham City gets takeover bid

Outside the top index, shares of soccer club Birmingham City jumped 40.3% to 91 pence per share.

An investment vehicle run by Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung on Friday made a bid of 81.5 million pounds ($134 million) to buy the firm.

Grandtop made an offer to buy Birmingham City for 100 pence per share in cash.

Additionally, property Web site operator Rightmove saw its shares jump 13.6%.

First-half profit rose to 13 million pounds, from 12.6 million pounds at the same point a year ago, helped by cost cutting. It said that it's confident of exceeding market expectations for 2009.

"Revenue is in line, but good cost control means a significant beat at the earnings per share level," said analysts at Investec Securities.

Shares of BBA Aviation climbed 3.5% after it was upgraded to hold from sell by Citigroup on Friday.

The broker said that, after robust trading in the first-half of 2009 and strong cash generation, it believes the company's financial position looks more secure and trading is near a trough.