Financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L) closed the day's trading as the biggest climber, buoyed by strong results announced earlier today.

The Bristol-based company reported a surge in pre-tax profits, revenue and funds under administration, which resulted in its share price rising by 17.7 per cent to 508.5p.

The company was further boosted by an upgrade to 'add' by analysts at Numis Securities and a reiteration of its 'hold' status by Peet Hunt.

Banks also continued to be heavily favoured at trading close, led by Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS.L).

RBS rose by 8.6 per cent to 26.25p, Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) increased by 6.2 per cent to 35.66p, while Barclays (BARC.L) was up 5.6 per cent to 180.35p.

The only non-financial stock to rise at close was security services company G4S (GFS.L), which added 3.6 per cent to its share price to close at 270.4p.

The biggest faller at close was silver miner Fresnillo (FRES.L), which managed to cling on to the bottom spot after a similar start to trading.

The mining company dropped 3.7 per cent to 2,022p, closely followed by oil giant BP (BP.L), which fell 3.5 per cent to 388.5p.

Both ITV (ITV.L) and miner Xstrata (XTA.L) shed 2.5 per cent from their share prices, dropping to 59.7p and 1,052p, respectively. While International Power (IPR.L) saw its share price decline by 1.9 per cent to 333.4p.

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