Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,884.73
    +74.07 (+0.37%)
     
  • AIM

    743.26
    +1.15 (+0.15%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1710
    +0.0017 (+0.14%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2620
    -0.0003 (-0.02%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    55,597.12
    +311.97 (+0.56%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,469.53
    +301.46 (+0.75%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,205.81
    +1.00 (+0.01%)
     

Britain's FTSE set for weekly rise, buoyed by banks

* FTSE 100 up 1.6 pct

* Banks rise as closure seen on PPI scandal

* Experian (Other OTC: EXPGF - news) falls after data breach (Updates prices, adds detail and quote)

By Kit Rees and Alistair Smout

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 2 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose on Friday as regulatory pressure on the country's banks eased, putting the index on track for a weekly rise.

Banks gained after Britain's financial regulator said it planned to impose a two-year deadline for customers to claim compensation for mis-sold loan insurance, drawing a line under Britain's costliest consumer finance scandal.

ADVERTISEMENT

Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) , Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) , Lloyds and Standard Chartered (HKSE: 2888.HK - news) all rose 2.3 to 4.8 percent.

"These liabilities have been casting something of a shadow over the sector, not least owing to the difficulties in quantifying their scale, plus the implications of recent judicial rulings," said Tony Cross, a market analyst at Trustnet Direct.

Insurer Legal & General Group rose 3.4 percent after announcing its first U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . bulk annuity contract to provide retirement payments with a U.S. subsidiary of Royal Philips.

Britain's FTSE 100 was up 98.55 points, or 1.6 percent at 6,171.02 points by 1051 GMT, taking the index into positive territory for the week.

The FTSE 100 posted its biggest quarterly decline since 2011 in the third quarter, which ended on Wednesday, but it has now risen for three straight session.

"I think we're getting very close to turning a corner here in terms of investor sentiment and also global growth," Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, said.

U.S. jobs data, which is due later on Friday at 1330 GMT, could provide clues as to the strength of the U.S. economy as well as the timing of a rate increase.

The gains were broad-based, with only five stocks falling. Information services (NasdaqGM: III - news) company Experian declined the most, dropping 4.5 percent and heading for its worst session in 16 months. The company disclosed a data breach that exposed the personal information of some 15 million people who applied for service with T-Mobile US Inc.

"Undoubtedly a breach of this magnitude is a major setback, especially to a company that takes data security very seriously ... Experian's business is that of handling data, which makes this incident particularly embarrassing," analysts at Barclays (Swiss: BARC.SW - news) said in a note.

"T-Mobile is obviously reviewing its relationship with Experian. In itself the loss of one client is fairly immaterial but if it triggers other account reviews, it could become more significant." (Additional reporting by Lionel Laurent, editing by Larry King)