The biggest riser in early trading (at 0924) was Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS.L) as the FTSE 100 rallied after the bank holiday weekend.

RBS saw its share price rise by 8.1 per cent to 23.66p, and was closely followed by banking sector peer Barclays (BARC.L).

Barclays saw its share price increase by 7.9 per cent to 167.2p. The banking sector rose following news of a merger between Greek banks Alpha Bank and Eurobank.

The news was welcomed by the market, as the country's banking sector show tentative signs of a potential move away from the sovereign debt crisis.

Cruise operator Carnival (CCL.L) rose 6.4 per cent to 1,954p, miner Anglo American (AAL.L) was up 5.8 per cent to 2,471.5p and shopping mall company Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG.L) increased by 5.7 per cent to 336p.

The biggest faller early on (at 0926) was gold miner Randgold Resources (RRS.L), dropping 1.2 per cent to 6,265p.

Supermarket giant Tesco (TSCO.L) dropped 0.4 per cent to 364.15p, while consumer goods company Unilever (ULVR.L) fell 0.2 per cent to 2,011p.

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