FTSE

Barclays is fast approaching a staggering 70% gain on Monday after its bosses reassured investors on the bank's financial health in an open letter this morning.

Financial stocks dragged the FTSE ahead of the news that the UK has been officially declared as being in a recession.

Slumping technology giants erased gains on both sides of the Atlantic on Thursday.

Banks rallied on Thursday after Barack Obama's nominee treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, pledged the US would step up its bid to stabilise its banking system.

Barclays' share price slumped to its lowest level since 1985 on Wednesday as fears of further write-downs and possible nationalisation continued to plague sentiment.

Heavy sell-offs of Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays shares characterised the FTSE 100 this afternoon as fears about the scale of losses facing the sector continue.

After a tumultuous few days for UK banks, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group rallied early on Tuesday with its share price climbing more than 15%.

The FTSE climbed 73.15 points (1.76%) to 4,220.21 shortly after opening this morning as Barclays soared 19.80p (20.20%) to 117.80 on the back of claims its earnings will beat forecasts and the Government's plans to inject billions more pounds into UK...

The FTSE 100 made a rapid 1.5% gain in early trading on Friday as miners and banks made steady progress.

The FTSE 100 continued its seemingly inexorable dive toward 4,000 on Thursday as glum sales figures for Argos and Home Retail piled further agony on the retail sector.