British Banks have continued to rally in early trading following on from the publication of the European Union’s stress test results at the end of last week.

Barclays led the charge rising 6.3 per cent to 335.5p, closely followed by Lloyds Banking Group 5.3 per cent rise to 69.5p and a 4 per cent rise by Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

No British banks failed the Committee of European Banking Supervisors stress tests, as they already adhere to stringent capital requirements set by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA).

At the other end of the scale Intercontinental Hotels Group was the heaviest faller at 6.6 per cent to 1,120p.
The group saw shareprice slip on news of the placing of 30 million shares by Barclays Capital.

The hotelier was followed by microchip maker Arm Holdings, down 1.6 per cent to 340.6p, and Sage Group which fell 1.5 per cent to 248.2p.