FTSE rallies after Barclays boost
By politics.co.uk staff
The FTSE 100 was up 1.54 points by 08:36 GMT to 4,293.41, led by a jump in Barclays’ shares.
The index recovered quickly after opening almost ten points down at 4,282.95, as a banking rally helped lift the UK’s benchmark index.
Barclays shares were up 7.35 per cent by 08:38 GMT, rising to over a pound to 112.50p, following a set of results that beat expectations, as promised by the bank.
Lloyds Banking Group was close behind with a 6.67 per cent rise to 112p, while Royal Bank of Scotland shares rose 4.58 per cent to 25.10p in early trading.
Oil and mining stocks were down again, however, with Antofagasta leading the decline with a 2.41 per cent drop.
Rival Xstrata fell 1.31 per cent and Tullow Oil was down by 1.2 per cent.
On Friday, US markets rose on hopes of a bailout package to be announced today.
The Dow Jones index ended 2.7 per cent up, while the Nasdaq ticked up 2.94 per cent.
The really comes as Gordon Brown made a speech in central London saying bank bosses would not be remunerated for failure.
