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It was 0.8 per cent higher at midday, Reuters reports, after gains of as much as 3.1 per cent were seen by Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, with all three being boosted by a favourable research note from Citigroup.
Standard Chartered and HSBC added 0.6 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively, while Rio Tinto was the strongest performer in the mining sector, jumping 3.1 per cent after it was the subject of positive comments from Merrill Lynch, which added the company to its 'Europe 1 list'.
Joshua Raymond of City Index noted that it is going to be "an important week for banks", with today's increases suggesting that investors "are hopeful of some solid earnings [from] Barclays tomorrow".
He added that this would make traders more upbeat following the "mixed" results that were released by major US banks.
Posted by Clive Arneil
