FTSE buoyed by miners and banks
The FTSE 100 pushed higher this morning as investors gained confidence in Greece’s chances of completing a lifesaving bond swap later today.
Major banks and pension funds, representing about 40 per cent of Greece’s outstanding debt, threw their weight behind Athens’ bond swap offer to private creditors yesterday.
That should be eno€130bn fund for Greece to steer it away from default.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 of top European companies added 0.5 per cent in early trading.
On London’s blue chip index Arm Holugh to see the deal through and unlock a dings was the highest climber with a lift of more than three per cent. The company, which makes chips for Apple, was boosted by an upgrade in rating by Morgan Stanley to “overweight”.
Retailer Morrisons was up more than two per cent after reporting a rise in profit.
Miners also performed strongly with Vedanta up 2.8 per cent and Kazakhmys 2.2 per cent.
Antofagasta was up 2.5 per cent after the shock exit of its chief executive Marcelo Awad yesterday.
Meggitt, which makes aircraft parts, was up 2.3 per cent having reported strong results earlier in the week.
In banking Lloyds edged up 0.5 per cent as did RBS. Barclays nudged up by 0.9 per cent, with the sector given a lift by the imminent greek deal.
UK insurer Aviva was up 1.7 per cent after reporting a profit rise and saying it was recovering from the impact of weaknesses in the Eurozone.
On the down side hedge fund giant Man Group was off by 0.6 per cent.
Telecoms heavyweight Vodafone was down by 0.4 per cent. After reports that it was edging towards making a bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide.
Energy companies Centrica and Scottish and Southern dipped by around 0.4 per cent as defensive stocks dipped.
Meanwhile in Asia the Nikkei closed up two per cent and the Hang Seng 1.3 per cent.
Investors are awaiting the latest interest rate decisions due later today from both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.
The Bank of England is expected to sit tight on its current monetary policy after pouring more money into the economy last month.