Hopes for economic recovery in the US today offset the damage caused to banking stocks hit by fears over Spain’s struggling economy.
The FTSE 100 Index closed 34 points higher at 5,391.1 even though Spanish bond yields remained in dangerous territory at around 6.5%, close to the point at which other countries required a bailout.
Banks were held back by the fears over Spain with Royal Bank of Scotland down 2%, or 0.3p at 20.6p, Lloyds Banking Group off 0.1p at 25.9p and Barclays flat at 181p.
Commodities stocks were cheered by the prospect of additional measures from Beijing to invigorate the Chinese economy. Glencore was among the biggest risers, up 10p at 354.1p.
Greggs’ shares jumped 8% in the FTSE 250 Index after Chancellor George Osborne caved in on his plans to charge the 20% rate of VAT on hot baked snacks such as pasties and pies. The stock was 37.9p higher at 504.5p.
Banknote printer De La Rue saw a 3% drop in its shares despite a 73% rise in underlying profits to £57.7million in the year to the end of March as it benefited from a recovery plan. Shares were down 32.5p at 976.5p.
The biggest Footsie risers were International Airlines Group up 5.6p at 142.7p, CRH ahead 28p at £11.59, Tullow Oil up 44p at £14.76 and Petrofac ahead 47p at £16.09.
The biggest Footsie fallers included Imperial Tobacco off 30p at £23.62, Tesco down 3.5p at 301p and Sage Group off 2.9p at 252.8p.
Stuart Lamont, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted that Parkmead Group rose 7.7% to 13.9p, Hunting was up 3.9% at 821.5p and Wood Group took on 3.3% to finish at 729.3p.
Laggards included FirstGroup, off 2.6% to 214.9p, Stagecoach Group which inched 1.2% lower to 234.3p.
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