Julia Kollewe
New optimism that a second Greek bailout package can be agreed without a debt restructuring lifted the mood of investors around the world and increased their risk appetite. The FTSE 100 index in London pushed through the 6,000 mark but closed below it at 5989.88, up 51.12 points, a gain of 0.86%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones traded some 74 points higher at 12516.09, up 0.6% this afternoon. It gave up some of its gains after a surprise drop in US consumer confidence. In Europe, Germany's Dax closed 1.86% higher at 7293.69 while France's CAC was up 1.63% at 4006.94.
Amid the risers in London were banks including Standard Chartered, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC following a positive broker note. Nomura remained "overweight" on all three branches of financials - banks, insurance and real estate - but expressed a preference for banks. Standard Chartered was upgraded to "buy," which sent its shares 23p higher to 1628p.
"With bank debt performing well and earnings downgrades perhaps now reaching at least a relative crescendo, the sector's underperformance [against insurance and real estate] may be close to an end," said Nomura.
Support services stocks Wolseley, Aggreko and Serco also lifted the Footsie higher. Building supplies firm Wolseley, up 67p at 2058p, benefited from speculation that it has put three of its UK businesses - Build Center, Electric Center and Encon - up for sale. Markets are also expecting a positive trading update from the company tomorrow.
Analysts at Panmure Gordon said: "Ahead of its third-quarter update there is some speculation that further disposals are likely from Wolseley. If these... occur then it would be good for sentiment. A positive update is likely tomorrow as the comparative period was soft and recent trends have been good. With a lot of good news in its share price we stay neutral."
Outsourcing company Serco, which runs prisons and London's Docklands Light Railway, is another riser, closing up 19.5p at 577p after it snapped up India-based services group Intelenet. Temporary power provider Aggreko climbed 53p to 1867p.
Germany's decision to shut down all of its nuclear reactors by 2022 boosted energy stocks. Broker Matrix has said this marks a clear win for renewable energy and could benefit Centrica, Scottish & Southern Energy and Drax. Centrica rose 1.2p to 318.1p, SSE added 12p to 1387p and Drax was up 3.6p at 465.2p.
Shares in Admiral, the motor insurer, climbed 36p to 1723p after Collins Stewart reiterated its "buy" rating on the stock, following last week's decision by the UK regulator against a total ban on referral fees.
