Financial stocks were tracking their European counterparts higher on Monday, as the continent's banking industry celebrated Spain's request for aid. Barclays, Lloyds and RBS were among the highest risers, helped by Oriel Securities which kept buy ratings on all three stocks today. HSBC was also gaining, albeit by a lesser amount; Oriel reiterated a reduce recommendation on the shares this morning. Engineering group GKN was a high riser after its Aerospace division was awarded a contract by US aircraft maker Boeing at the weekend to supply complex machined titanium and aluminium parts and assemblies for the horizontal stabiliser of the 787-9 Dreamliner. Supermarket giant Tesco edged lower despite some in-line first-quarter figures. UK sales including VAT and petrol grew by 2.1% in the 13 weeks to May 26th, but like-for-like sales (excluding VAT and petrol) fell by 1.5%. Joining Tesco in the red was a host of defensive stocks as investors fled towards 'riskier' assets. Utilities peers United Utilities and National Grid were among the worst performers. Centrica regained some of its earlier losses to return to the blue. FTSE 100 - RisersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 29.00p +3.53%Wolseley (WOS) 2,273.00p +2.80%CRH (CRH) 1,142.00p +2.61%Barclays (BARC) 195.25p +2.57%GKN (GKN) 186.40p +2.53%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,086.00p +2.45%BP (BP.) 418.35p +2.27%Vedanta Resources (VED) 956.50p +2.24%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 228.00p +2.24%Schroders (SDR) 1,257.00p +2.20%FTSE 100 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 78.25p -2.00%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,421.00p -1.46%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 418.50p -1.25%Hammerson (HMSO) 410.40p -1.23%Land Securities Group (LAND) 709.00p -1.12%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,449.00p -0.98%British Land Co (BLND) 484.20p -0.86%United Utilities Group (UU.) 676.50p -0.59%British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,103.00p -0.58%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 288.00p -0.55%NR