London market get a lift

Bank and mining shares gave the London market a post-holiday lift today after metal prices firmed and US giant Goldman Sachs smashed Wall Street expectations with quarterly profits of £1.1bn (€1.23bn).

The surprise update from Goldman fuelled hopes that the worst could be over for the banking sector, causing Lloyds Banking Group to rally 9% or 7.5p to 87p while Royal Bank of Scotland was ahead 2p at 31p.