Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS.L) was the biggest riser in morning trading (at 1053) with its share price up 4.2 per cent to 37.55p.

The banking sector has been lifted in recent days by some degree of certainty over the Eurozone, as European ministers met to discuss the extent of the sovereign debt problem.

Talks resulted in the two biggest political powers, Germany and France, agreeing to a further €109 billion aid package.

Barclays (BARC.L) also rose early on, registering a 3.4 per cent increase in share price, up to 248p.

Engineering companies also performed well, with GKN (GKN.L) up 3.4 per cent to 239.5p and IMI (IMI.L) rising by 3.2 per cent to 1,096p. Mining company Vedanta Resources (VED.L) completed the top five risers with a 3.1 per cent increase to 1,906p.

The biggest fallers in what was a buoyant start to trading were AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and SABMiller (SAB.L) both falling by 1 per cent to 3,060p and 2,287p, respectively.

Bank Standard Chartered dropped 0.5 per cent to 1,621.5p, as both Smith & Nephew (SMIN.L) and Essar Energy (ESSR.L) fell 0.4 per cent to 656p and 382.5p, respectively.

To receive more relevant articles like this one, why not sign up to our weekly newsletters, click here