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Outsourcer Capita leads London shares higher | Outsourcer Capita leads London shares higher |
(about 5 hours later) | |
(Close): London's FTSE 100 rose sharply at the open, dropped back at lunch time and then steadily climbed for the rest of the trading day. | |
The day started with good results from budget airline easyJet (up 2.7%) and support services group Capita which closed up 5.3%. | |
The FTSE 100 ended up 41.84 points at 6,156.65. | |
Official trade figures, showing the biggest gap in eight years, failed to dampen any spirits. | Official trade figures, showing the biggest gap in eight years, failed to dampen any spirits. |
General optimism over Greece's reform programme and the chances of debt relief being approved by eurozone countries continued to underpin the market. | |
Barclays shares were up up by more than 3%, and Standard Chartered up 3.8%. Both banks have been reluctant to do business with Iran in the face of UN sanctions. | |
But US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday: "European banks, as long as it's not a designated entity, are absolutely free to open accounts for Iran, trade, exchange money, facilitate a legitimate business agreement, bankroll it, lend money - all those things are absolutely open." | |
Mining stocks stayed volatile. On Monday Anglo American lost 13.8%. On Tuesday the shares recovered 4.7%. | |
On the currency markets, the pound rose 0.3% against the dollar to $1.4452 and rose 0.3% against the euro to €1.2695. |