Shares blast higher as banks and insurers advance

Shares surged in morning deals building on last week's advance as banks and insurers continued to benefit from their strong earnings updates over recent days.

The FTSE 100 was 71 points higher at 5403.18 boosted by a late recovery on Wall Street last week.

On Friday, the DJIA finished just 21 points lower at 10653, having hit a low of 10515 after fewer than hoped for private sector jobs were created in July.

This week's focus will be on the meeting of the US Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting tomorrow and the Bank of England inflation report on Wednesday amid a growing divide about the outlook for the global economy and the ability of policy-makers to do what is needed.

In company news, Legal & General, Old Mutual and Schroders were up 3.5p at 90.15p, 3p to 127.4p and 38p at £14.09 respectively after their stellar earnings last week.

Banks shared mixed fortunes though as investors weighed the impact of their results last week. Lloyds’ shares added 0.7p to 74.5p as investors focussed on the possibility of bumper dividend payments in the future after its forecast-busting results.

RBS shares though were 1.17 p lower at 50.5p after many said its numbers were less impressive.