FTSE seen opening higher

• IBTimes RSS
• Print
• E-Mail
• digg
• Del.icio.us

At 8.25 a.m., the FTSE 100 was up 95.8 points at 5,984.3. The UK benchmark index advanced 1.7 percent last week, but it is still down 7 percent for the year on concerns over the U.S. economy.

"We have got a leg up this morning from the rally in the U.S. and Asia. A bit of M&A added into the mix always helps," said Martin Slaney, head of derivatives at GFT Global Markets.

European shares were also higher.

U.S. stocks rallied late on Friday on news that banks were near an agreement to bail out bond insurer Ambac Financial. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average closed up more than 3 percent.

Banks were big gainers, contributing 30 points to the index, on the bond insurer news and as Qatar's $60 billion sovereign wealth fund eyed investing in European banks.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said in an interview that he favoured investing in European over U.S. lenders because U.S. bank stocks were likely to fall further on subprime-mortgage writedowns.

Royal Bank of Scotland advanced 5.6 percent after the Sunday Telegraph said the Qatari government was considering making an investment in Britain's second biggest bank. RBS was not immediately available for comment.

The Observer said Lloyds TSB was weighing up the possibility of a bid for Alliance & Leicester, with Bradford & Bingley another possible target. Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley shares rose 4.5 and 5.8 percent, respectively, while Lloyds stock was up 3 percent.

Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered were up between 2.2 and 2.7 percent.

• 1
• 2