London's leading shares opened fairly high, despite the effect of a weaker mining sector, as bullish banks secured early gains.
The FTSE 100 is up 0.15% to 6421.9 but the biggest loser was Anglo-American, which provides financial services to the mining sector, which dropped 1.27% to £25.69. This was closely followed by communications firm Vodafone Group, which dropped 1% to 149p. The day’s next biggest loser was international brewing firm Scottish & Newcastle, which dropped 1% to 546.5p. However, these losses were stemmed by the Alliance & Leicester bank, which rose 6.29% to £11.33 and the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group, which jumped 2.53% to 172p. Imperial Tobacco Group also made strong gains, rising 2.45...
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