Relief spread across the market today after Germany’s top court gave the eurozone rescue fund the green light.
Blue chips leapt on the news but have pulled back since then to the opening mark of 5,793 points.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called it “a good day” as the German Constitutional Court rejected calls to block the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the eurozone’s €500 bln bailout fund.
More than 37,000 Germans had signed a petition to block the ESM after claiming it would not be subject to proper democratic control, demanding a referendum is held.
UK banking stocks led the charge, with Lloyds (LON:LLOY, up 3.6 pct to 38.4p), RBS (LON:RBS, up 3.4 pct to 273.7p), Barclays (LON:BARC, up 1.4 pct to 216.4p), Standard Chartered (LON:STAN, up 0.6 pct to 1,436.5p) and HSBC (LON:HSBA, up 1.5 pct to 573.2p) all climbing on the news.
Other risers in the blue chip included telecoms giant BT (LON:BT.A, up 2.6 pct to 232.4p) after it won the rights to broadcast Premiership rugby in a £152 mln deal.
Oil company Red Emperor Resources (LON:RMP, up 23pct to 5.75p) hit highs of 7 pence today on the back of Horn Petroleum’s (CVE:HRN) huge share price leap yesterday.
Red Emperor has a 20 per cent interest in the Puntland oilfield in Somalia, where no oil was found recently, while Horn is the operator and 60 per cent holder.
Among the top fallers were luxury fashion brand Burberry (LON:BRBY, down 0.9 pct to 1,078p), still languishing after yesterday’s shock profits warning, insurer Admiral (LON:ADM, down 2.7 pct to 1,089p), alcoholic drinks firm Diageo (LON:DGE, down 2.1 pct to 1,663.5p) and oil company BG Group (LON:BG., down 1.7 pct to 1,248.4p)