London shares closed higher on Monday as as traders returned to their desks after the Easter holiday to digest the latest developments on the Cyprus debt crisis, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading blue-chip companies added 1.23 percent to 6,490.66 points.
The climb was in line with other European markets. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 jumped 1.91 percent to 7,943.87 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 climbed 1.98 percent to 3,805.37 points.
“The rise is technical, done on very low volumes” after “two rather difficult last weeks of March,” trader Xavier de Villepion at Global Equities said.
In London, easyJet airline was the day’s best performer, rising 4.44 percent to end at 1128, followed by Rexam, which added 3.79 percent to finish at 547.5.
Eurasian Natural Resources topped the fallers, down 4.39 percent at 235.3, followed by Evraz, which slipped 2.48 percent to end at 216.5.
Vodafone was the most traded stock by volume, seeing 262.7 million shares traded, followed by Lloyds Banking Group, which saw 137.4 million units change hands.
On the currency markets, sterling dropped against the dollar to $1.5117 at 5.17 p.m., down from $1.5174 at around the same time on Thursday, while it also dropped to 1.1776 euros, down from 1.1839 euros, over the same period.
London shares end higher
