Financials lift FTSE 100 while Nikkei prospers

Royal Bank of Scotland was up 19.31% in early trading, whilst Barclays and Lloyds TSB followed, increasing 12.18% and 6.60%, respectively, as of 8:45am. However, this could not lift London's blue-chip index out of the red, with the FTSE 100 dropping 22.62 points or 0.54% to 4,186.87. Meanwhile, Friends Provident also entered the top five highest performers this morning rising 5.18% despite disclosing new life and pensions business for 2008 was down 11%. In its latest trading report for the year ending 31 December 2008, the company reports its financials are strong, despite the uncertain...