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London shares rocket after Bank Holiday break - Latest Market Analysis

Shares in London got the week off to a great start, outperforming their western peers, as they made up for the time lost over the bank holiday. Europe and the US had seen good gains on Monday as the weekend conference of finance leaders held at Jackson Hole fortunately avoided delivering any bad news.

Economic data released throughout the day was mixed at best, but it failed to rattle markets for long and by the close the FTSE 100 had gained a massive 139 points, climbing 2.7% to 5268.7.

As worries over the banking sector have been one of the factors overhanging the market of late, it was no surprise that banking shares dominated the leader board. Boosted by an upgrade from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’, shares of RBS, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays all gained between 7 and 8 percent.

Mining shares and energy stocks were also strong as commodity prices similarly reflected the more optimistic mood of equity markets, copper, gold and crude oil all making significant gains.

Despite continuing worries politically over the European debt crisis, investors were also comforted as Italy managed to auction off bonds at an interest rate it could have only dreamed about just a few weeks back.

Having posted gains of 2.5 to 3 percent whilst the Uk was closed on Monday, European and US equity markets were trading relatively flat as London traders closed up shop for the day, hoping to return to similarly calm markets on Wednesday.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Dance .