Hammerson, the company with property across the UK and France, has been top of the leaderboard for the past hour or so. The shares have jumped 4% to 406.6p. Traders say it rose after BNP Paribas sold a stake in Klépierre, a French shopping mall company.
Reuters quotes a London-based trader:
Given Hammerson's French exposure, this Klépierre deal is sure to provide a boost to valuations and sentiment for the UK-listed firm.
BNP Paribas said it would sell a 28.7% stake Klépierre to raise €1.5bn (£1.3bn) as part of the bank's efforts to increase capital reserves. The bank posted a 51% drop in profits in the last quarter of 2011, hit by the eurozone debt crisis.
Klépierre shares rose 5%, while BNP Paribas was 4% higher.
European equities are up. The German Dax is 2% higher, while the French CAC 40 is up 2%.
The European Central Bank just announced that rates would stay unchanged at 1%. There's a press conference to follow at 1.30pm, when we might get some indication of the bank's plans for Europe's version of QE, the LTRO. Live coverage here.
As expected, the Bank of England left interest rates at 0.5% at midday, with QE unchanged at £325bn. Markets were expecting it to be a non-event and there was no discernible reaction. Philip Shaw at Investec said:
Any other outcome would have been a huge surprise.
