London shares closed higher on Friday, spurred to a fresh five-and-a-half year high by a surge in banks and financial sector stocks.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the day 35.26 points or 0.53 percent higher at 6,723.06 points, another fresh peak since the autumn of 2007.
The index has gained 11 percent already this year and is now only 6 percent below its all-time high of 6,930.20 points set on December 30, 1999.
State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland led the gainers, jumping 5.65 percent amid media talk that Chancellor George Osborne may sell part of the government’s 81 percent stake through an offering to the general public.
On Thursday, RBS axed 1,400 more positions, taking the total number of job losses close to 40,000 since its vast state bailout at the height of the global financial crisis.
Lloyds Group, also shored up by the government in 2008, rose 3.17 percent to 62.84 pence and Asia-focussed Standard Chartered added 2.53 percent to 1,623 pence.
Shares in fund manager Resolution joined in the gains, putting on 3.99 percent to 296.80 pence.
Kazakhstan-centred miner ENRC plunged 8.03 percent to 271.60 pence after an independent committee of the board rejected a takeover bid by three core shareholders as too low.
“The Independent Committee believes that the proposal materially undervalues ENRC,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. ENRC is seeking more time for the shareholders to come back with a fresh.
Randgold dropped 2.96 percent to 4,757 pence as gold prices continued their recent bearish run.
On the currency markets, sterling sank to $1,5175 at 5:33 pm from $1.5296 on Thursday evening and eased to 1.1836 euros from 1.1865 euros the previous night.
London shares close higher as banks surge
