Banks and Insurers Keep FTSE 100 in the Blue

London equities made a steady start on Monday morning and, by midday, the FTSE 100 index was up by 11 points, or 0.3%, at 4,252.47.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Monday, June 29, 2009

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Banks and insurance companies were amongst those making gains, but data showing that mortgage lending in the U.K. rose by the smallest amount on record in May, and a fall in the price of crude oil, to below $70 a barrel, weighed heavily on the index.

Lloyds Banking Group was the best performer of all on the FTSE 100, up 3.13p, or 4.71%, at 69.62p, after the stock was upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" by Goldman Sachs. Share prices in Barclays, too, were up 0.08p, or 0.45%, at 17.96p, ahead of the Government paper on regulation of the financial sector, which is likely to be at odds with Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King. Insurance companies also found favour, with Legal and General, Prudential and Standard Life all up by between 2.2% and 3.1%.

Elsewhere, Vodafone remained steady, up 0.45p, or 0.39%, at 116.65p despite reports that it is considering a bid for T-Mobile's business in the U.K., subject to approval from the regulatory authorities. International service company, Serco, also made headway, up 9.25p, or 2.24%, at 422.75p, after reporting that it remains on track to deliver on its 2009 forecast, while investors were also interested in National Express Group after a report on Monday morning that it had received a bid from rival operator FirstGroup, although once again subject to regulatory issues. Share prices in National Express rose 12.75p, or 4.62%, to 288.50p.

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