Investors shrugged off a gloomy autumn statement from Chancellor George Osborne today as optimism over a solution to the eurozone debt crisis pushed the London market higher.
The FTSE 100 Index closed 24.2 points higher at 5,337 despite Mr Osborne being forced to acknowledge a grim picture of declining growth and soaring borrowing requirements.
Banks continued to drag on the wider market as fears over the eurozone were compounded by the chancellor’s announcement to lift the bank levy for the third time this year – Lloyds Banking Group was 0.5p lower at 23.2p, although insurer Prudential bucked the trend in the financial sector by gaining 12.5p to 610.5p.
International Airlines Group, which operates as British Airways and Iberia, rose 0.4% – or 0.6p to 145.2p – after it emerged that American Airlines had filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States.
In a quiet session for corporate results, Topps Tiles staged a fightback after its share price fell on news that like-for-like sales declined 6.9% in the seven weeks since the end of September, having been down 2% over the previous financial year. Shares pulled back into the black to stand 2% higher or 0.5p at 23.5p.
There was a poor response to an update from toy distributor Character, which reduced its sales forecasts for its current financial year to August. Shares were off 7.5p at 150p.
The biggest Footsie risers were Randgold Resources up 360p at £66, Man Group ahead 5.7p at 138p, GKN up 7.4p at 184.5p and Aggreko ahead 65p at £18.41.
The biggest Footsie fallers included Kingfisher off 2.9p at 250.1p, Glencore down 4.3p at 380.1p and Royal Bank of Scotland off 0.2p at 19.5p.
David Barclay, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted that EnQuest added 11.21% to close the day at 101.3p and Parkmead rose 7% to finish at 13.5p. Elsewhere, Wood Group rose 2.28% to 627.25p.
On the faller’s board, Xcite Energy closed 0.85% lower at 116p.