London open: Sharp gains for Footsie as Greek fears ease

24th Jun 2011 08:42

The Footsie registered sharp gains in early trading, after last night's reports from Greece buoyed sentiment in London. The FTSE 100 opened up 68 higher at 5,742 on Friday morning.With Greece and the European Union settled on the contents of the austerity package to be put before the Greek parliament next week, hopes have risen that the prospect of a default by Greece on its loans can be put to bed. As news broke of the agreement late yesterday, the US markets performed an abrupt volte-face, wiping out earlier losses.Back on the home front, London and south-east house builder Berkeley Group surged on the FTSE 250 after reporting forecast-beating figures, on both the sales and the profit level, but investors will have to wait a little longer before they they can benefit from the resumption of a dividend. Sector peers Barratt Developments, Persimmon and Bellway were also in demand.Miners, on the whole, were wanted, recovering from the broad sector sell-off experienced on Thursday. Blue chips Antofagasta, Randgold, Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Fresnillo and Rio Tinto made solid gains early on. Satellite group Inmarsat was the only stock on the FTSE 100 in the red as of 08:45.Distribution and outsourcing firm Bunzl opened higher after saying that it is trading in line with expectations, despite tough times in its UK and Irish markets. At constant exchange rates group revenue in the six months to the end of April is expected to have increased 6%, due to underlying growth of 3% and the positive impact from acquisitions, with a slight improvement in operating margin. Gold miner African Barrick Gold has had further success with its in-fill drilling at its Tusker resource area at the Nyanzaga project in Tanzania. ---BCFTSE 100 - RisersGKN (GKN) 213.60p +3.24%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,274.00p +2.99%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,015.00p +2.77%Xstrata (XTA) 1,277.50p +2.73%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,268.00p +2.68%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,283.00p +2.56%ARM Holdings (ARM) 581.00p +2.56%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,295.00p +2.27%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 37.53p +2.15%Anglo American (AAL) 2,872.00p +1.92%FTSE 100 - FallersInmarsat (ISAT) 562.50p -0.79%