FTSE boosted by A&L takeover talk
The FTSE 100 share index rose early on Monday thanks to a strong performance by banks. By 8:48 am the index had risen 85.9 points to 5,347.5.
FTSE gains as metals spur minersBanks made a recovery thanks to the announcement of a possible bid for Alliance & Leicester. Alliance & Leicester saw its shares rise more than 40 per cent following the announcement.
Other banks made lesser gains with Barclays, Bradford & Bingley, HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Standard Chartered up 2.9 to 30.5 per cent.
Oil firms also had a positive start to the day with Petrofac up three per cent and Royal Dutch Shell up 0.6 per cent.
Miners were up as well with BHP Billiton, Lonmin, Rio Tinto and Xstrata rising 1.3 to two per cent.
Brewers Diageo and SABMilller were both up 2.9 per cent following a takeover of Anheuser-Busch by InBev.
Other early gainers included ITV up 8.4 per cent, after a Financial Times report quoted the c-founder of Endemol as saying a combination of Endemol and ITV "could make sense".
Building materials firm Wolseley also managed to rise one per cent after losses in recent weeks.
Among the early fallers were publisher Reed Elsevier and insurance firm Friends Provident, both down 0.5 per cent.
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- 1 U.S. crude rises above $116 on geopolitics
- 2 Asia stocks and dollar slip as oil climbs
- 3 Commodities and China hopes lift FTSE in early trade
- 4 Asia stocks plumb two-year low
- 5 FTSE falls 1.1 pct as fresh credit fears hit banks
- 6 Oil falls below $112 a barrel to 4-month low
- 7 Asia stocks at two-year low
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