London’s equities markets saw gains Wednesday as some banks were higher.
The FTSE 100 added 0.56 percent to 6,433 while the FTSE 250 gained 0.33 percent to 10,889.3.
Banks were higher on the 100, led by Northern Rock (LSE: NRK), which was up 11.59 percent to 182p after it said it had received some approaches to buy, as well an offer.
HBOS (LSE: HBOS) was 5.12 percent higher to 873p after Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) added it to its “conviction buy” list, while Alliance & Leicester (LSE: AL) gained 3.4 percent to 733p.
Internet price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com (LSE: MONY) was the best performer of the day on the 250 as it added 5.49 percent to 173p.
Miners were mixed.
Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP; ASX: AQP; JSE: AQP) was 5.37 percent higher to £18.63 on the 250, but Xstrata (LSE: XTA) was down 1.44 percent on the 100 to £31.49.
DSG International (LSE: DSGI) had the worst day on the 100, where it dropped 3.71 percent to 129.9p after Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS; SWX: CSGN) cut the retailer’s target share price from 155p to 95p.
Elsewhere in the retail sector, Carphone Warehouse (LSE: CPW) was down 2.1 percent to 350.25p.
Over on the 250, computer software and video game retailer GAME Group (LSE: GAME) fell 6.93 percent to 188p.
The worst performance on the 250 came from the oil sector, where JKX Oil & Gas (LSE: JKX) was 7.02 percent lower to 344.5p.