FTSE 100 flat despite bank boost

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.74 per cent on a relatively flat day.

The index ended the day at 5,300.40 – rising 38.80 points.

The day started well in London – with news of the US government aiding stricken mortgage lenders and a deal from Banco Santander to buy Alliance & Leicester – buoying the markets.

However, the index only rose to levels seen before a Friday closing collapse and the index also lost around 50 points in the afternoon following falls in the US.

ITV led the gains on the day up 12.53 per cent to 43.10p – on reports the selling of BSkyB's 17.9 per cent stake may bring out fresh bidders for the broadcaster, including Dutch Big Brother maker Endemol.

Miners Eurasian and Kazakhmys rose 8.62 per cent and 6.03 per cent respectively, packaging firm Rexam rose 6.57 per cent, and ICAP climbed 4.94 per cent.

Carphone Warehouse saw the greatest falls – down 2.83 per cent – followed by AstraZeneca (down 2.49 per cent), Thomson Reuters (falling 2.26 per cent), GlaxoSmithKline (dropping 2.14 per cent) and Reckitt Benckiser (slipping 2.11 per cent).

Outside the FTSE 100, Alliance & Leicester rose 52.91 per cent, Imperial Energy gained 17.88 per cent and Yell Group climbed 14.98 per cent.

Taylor Wimpey dropped 8.61 per cent, SIG was down 6.99 per cent and Barratt Developments fell 5.61 per cent.

Ryan Kneale, market analyst at bookmaker betsfortraders.com warned while some gains were made today, a single swallow does not make a summer.

"Whilst a rally like this is good and could signal the end of the recent bear run, we have seen enough of these relief rallies over the last two weeks to know that until the markets climb more consistently we are far from out of the woods," he said.

"This week both Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, two of the banks that have reported big write-downs so far this year, report their quarter two earnings. This will make or break the markets in our opinion and any worse than expected figures will see another mass sell-off."