Reuters: Hot Stocks: Banks lead UK shares higher after Greece debt deal

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Banks lead UK shares higher after Greece debt deal Nov 27th 2012, 12:24 Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:24am EST * FTSE 100 index gains 0.4 percent * RBS leads index as investors add risk * Miners receive support from firmer copper price * Defensive sectors join in broad-based rally By Alistair Smout LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Britain's top shares rose on Tuesday, with banks leading a broad-based rally as a deal was finally struck between Greece's international lenders on reducing the country's debt burden. UK banks have less exposure to Greece than their French or German counterparts but they are exposed to the euro zone financial system as a whole. Their shares benefited from rising risk appetite after euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund agreed late on Monday on measures to cut Greek debt by 40 billion euros by 2020, reducing it to 124 percent of GDP and paving the way for Athens to receive its next installment of bailout cash. "The gains are definitely linked to the Greek deal. Banks have led it, and by and large there's only a handful of stocks that haven't joined that rally," said Robert Quinn, Chief European Equity Strategist at Standard & Poor's Capital IQ. "The better performing banks today are all restructuring stories, like RBS and Lloyds, so it's a risk rally if you like. Some of the stronger banks don't get the same level of uplift." Unrevised UK third-quarter growth data, showing the economy expanded 1 percent on the quarter, also supported market sentiment. At 1145 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was up 24.13 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,810.85, with financials, a sector that includes banks, insurers and asset managers, adding 7.5 points to the index. Royal Bank of Scotland was the top blue-chip gainer, up 3.2 percent, with the part-state-owned lender's stock seen benefitting from the regulatory implications of Canadian central bank head Mark Carney's appointment as Bank of England governor. "We think the appointment of Mark Carney as the new governor of the Bank of England provides the opportunity for the UK regulatory environment to be recast with a more conciliatory tone," UBS said in a note. "This helps reduce the tail risk associated with investing in UK banks and we reduce our cautious stance on the sector by upgrading RBS to buy," the broker added. The more optimistic market tone was reflected in strength in miners, which added 0.6 percent and received support from a firmer copper price. The metal rose to a near one-month high as the aid deal for Greece and the approval of new railway projects in China also enhanced confidence about global demand for commodities. Consumer staples and healthcare stocks gained along with utilities, usually seen as a defensive sector. British American Tobacco rose 0.8 percent, adding 1.9 points to the FTSE index. Despite the broad-based gains, the FTSE was still unable to break through last Friday's high, set after the index gained 3.8 percent last week, and was unable to recoup its 0.6 percent loss on Monday. "While the nagging doubt of Greek sustainability may have been removed, note that the FTSE 100 has failed to break its Friday and 13-day prior highs. This begs the question of whether a breather after the recent up-move from 5,600 is still to materialise," Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said. (Additional reporting by Jon Hopkins; Editing by Susan Fenton) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions