Part-nationalised bank Royal Bank of Scotland Group was the biggest riser in early trading as reports surfaced that it could exit the government's mammoth banking insurance scheme.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) is reported to have approached the governement over plans to exit the asset protection scheme, which protected the bank against losses from toxic assets.

A market announcement has yet to be made, however, reports helped the bank's share price rise by 5.6 per cent to 44.54p.

The bank has been selling off a number of assets over the past few months, as part of its asset reduction programme. Earlier this week the sale of the Priory Group for £925 million, from which it expected to pocket a cool £133 million after debts had been paid.

The news had a positive impact on Lloyds Banking Group - in which the government has a stake - as share price rose by 2 per cent to 68.14p.

Software company Autonomy was boosted after announcing two new deals earlier today, including a licensing agreement with Verizon and a multi-million dollar agreement with a US law firm. The news sent saw share price rise by 2 per cent to 1,453p.

The biggest faller was TUI Travel, which shed 1.3 per cent to 258.5p, while National Grid, Burberry Group and British Land all dropped 1 per cent to 533.5p, 1,035p and 518.5p, respectively.