Markets across Europe rebounded on Monday on news that EU leaders agreed on a deal for a Greek bailout.
The UK FTSE 100 index climbed up to a two-week high on Monday, up 0.97% (or 64.57 points), to end at 6,737.95. Advances in banks added the most points to the index.
Shawbrook and HSBC increased the most among UK banks, up 4.6 and 2.1 percent respectively.
International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), owner of British Airways, was also a big gainer, closing up 3.4 percent following an ratings upgrade to buy from neutral at UBS.
Leading the few stocks that dropped on the FTSE 100 was oil producer BG Group, with its shares down 0.9%.
The FTSE 100 is 2.6 percent higher than at the start of year. However, it is down 5 percent from the record high it reached in April of 7,122.74 points.
German and French markets surge as well
The French CAC-40 gained 1.94% closing at 4,998.10 while the German Dax up 1.49% at 11,484.38, with Deutsche Bank shares closing up 3.3%.
The gains came after European Council President Donald Tusk said that a Greek bailout was “all ready to go”.
According to the BBC, Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in Brussels, said:
“For the markets, it’s clearly positive that there is an agreement among the European member states and that there is an atmosphere of co-operation,”
“Still, there is a bit of execution risk which may haunt us in terms of volatility.”
