Hopes of a Greek deal, however misplaced, helped lift markets in an otherwise relatively quiet session.
The FTSE 100 finished 84.34 points higher at 7033.33, on talk of Greece coming to an agreement with its creditors, albeit unconfirmed by the parties involved. Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said:
In a day light of corporate and economic data, an email from a Greek official managed to ramp European stocks towards the end of what had otherwise been a fairly lacklustre trading day.
News that creditors are crafting a ‘staff level accord’ for a deal that could involve ‘a ong term solution on debt’ and ‘lower primary budget surpluses’ sent the euro and European stocks sharply higher.
Greek officials in the last few months have typically been more positive on the outcome from meetings than creditors so the subsequent denial stating ‘we are still not there on Greece’ from European Commissioner Dombrovskis was not altogether surprising.
Among the risers, Greece aside, was CRH, up 63p at £18.39 on news it would buy assets from rivals Holcim and Lafarge.
Imperial Tobacco also benefited from deal news, with its purchase of brands from US groups Reynolds and Lorillard made more likely by US regulators approving the two groups’ merger.
And still on the deal front, International Airlines Group added 17.5p to 562p as the Irish government gave the go-ahead to its proposed purchase of Aer Lingus.
