FTSE ends week on a high

The leading share index in Britain finished the week with an upward move as signs that the Greece crisis was closer than ever to a solution boosted investors. By the close of the final session of the week, the FTSE was higher by 0.3 per cent, adding more than 19 points to reach 5905.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Sunday, February 19, 2012

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Royal Bank of Scotland Group

The bailout deal which looked in jeopardy earlier in the week seemed to be near to a final conclusion, with both sides keen to prevent a messy default. The news lifted the market whilst a raft of positive economic data also added weight to the rally. A meeting of the eurozone's top finance ministers is due to take place on Monday and experts hope that the final details of the deal can be agreed by the end of the day.

The potential conclusion to the Greece debt problems gave the banks breathing room ahead of the full year results for both Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland which are due to be reported next week. The two stocks jumped by 3.11 and 3.18 per cent specifically. Peers Barclays and HSBC also climbed, rising 1.41 and 0.71 per cent.

The retail sector performed well on Friday as the latest figures revealed that sales rose by the highest levels seen in almost 10 months. Experts had predicted revenue to fall by around 0.4 per cent so the 0.9 per cent hike came as a surprise and sent the general retail stocks higher by 1.35 per cent overall. In the blue chips Marks and Spencer was up by 1.35 per cent whilst in the FTSE 250 Home Retail Group led the way with an increase of 6.13 per cent.

 

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