A banking rally today helped London’s leading shares index recover some of the heavy losses it suffered in yesterday’s rout.
The UK’s top flight slumped 2% on Tuesday as renewed fears over the eurozone debt crisis, particularly Spain’s ability to carry out its austerity programme, added to concerns about the strength of the US recovery.
The FTSE 100 Index rose 39.2 points to 5,634.7 today however, with heavily weighted banks and mining stocks in particular demand.
Barclays added 3% or 5.8p at 212.1p, while Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were up 0.8p at 30.6p and 0.5p at 25.3p respectively.
In the mining sector, Fresnillo was up 52p at £15.68 and Antofagasta ahead 38p at £11.10.
Security group G4S was another big riser, adding 3% or 7p to 280.1p, after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating, while another broker note sent shares in telecoms firm BT Group in the other direction.
JPMorgan Cazenove suggested investors take stock following a recent strong run for the blue-chip company. Shares were 2.5% or 5.4p lower at 213.2p.
The biggest Footsie risers included Hargreaves Lansdown up 16.9p at 463.7p and Smiths Group up 35p at £10.41.
Among the biggest Footsie fallers were Shire off 47p at £19.38, Tate & Lyle down 6.5p at 692p, and BSkyB off 5p at 649p.
Barry Shepherd, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted that Aggreko finished the day 2.3% stronger at £21.59, Weir Group rose 2.0% at £17.01 and Cairn Energy added 1.7% to close at 327.15p.
On today’s fallers board, Parkmead shed 2.5% to 19.625p and BP closed the day marginally lower at 444.25p, a drop of 0.25%.