Market Watch

[Joemoney]

FTSE Rise Fueled by Banks

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 share index pushed higher on Wednesday, boosted by oils and gains in the heavyweight banking sector following solid results from Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered.

ck index futures signaled a firmer Wall Street opening and offset the effects of moderate late selling in New York overnight.

Banks added 19 points to the leading index, with sector giant Royal Bank of Scotland up 3.9 percent and Standard Chartered topping the blue-chip risers with an eight percent gain after the release of reassuring results.

"Royal Bank of Scotland's results are giving the sector a fillip, and they prove what a resilient company it is," said one dealer.

Oils gave a further 13 points to the leading index, with shares in BP and Shell each rising around two percent. But shares in drugmaker AstraZeneca extended Tuesday's sharp fall, edging down 0.9 percent as investors continued to fret about a likely delay to the U.S. launch of its cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor. A downgrade from investment bank Schroder Salomon Smith Barney to "neutral" from "buy" was also weighing on the stock, dealers said.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/020807/britain_markets_stocks_1.html