FTSE 100 Movers: Banks lead the way higher

Banking giants Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered were all making strong gains, in line with the broader European banking sector, as fears over the Eurozone crisis eased.RBS was also boosted by news that it is to sell its tenanted pub business of 918 pubs to the Scottish and Newcastle Pub Company (S&NPC) for £418m. Resource stocks were also on the up, boosted by rising commodities prices. BHP Billiton, Vedanta Resources, Essar Energy, Kazakhmys, Xstrata and Antofagasta were all heading north. Admiral was the biggest faller following some negative broker commentary out this morning from analysts at RBC Capital Markets and Investec. RBC initiated its rating at underperform, while Investec maintained its sell rating and cut the target price from 843p to 570p. Shire was also among the worst performing stocks today, not helped by the Financial Times which pointed out what several analysts have been arguing, that there are ongoing risks: Shire's attention deficit hyperactivity treatment could become a target for the anti-medication lobby in the US; there's also a chance of a price war over its drug for Gaucher's disease. Reckitt Benckiser was also heading lower the day after Peter Harf, the deputy chairman of the board, completed the sale of millions of pounds worth of shares in the firm, totalling £23m in just three days.FTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 190.65p +7.62%ICAP (IAP) 367.50p +6.74%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 25.60p +6.67%Essar Energy (ESSR) 242.40p +5.85%Amec (AMEC) 930.00p +5.44%Glencore International (GLEN) 412.50p +5.16%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 21.59p +5.06%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,016.00p +4.84%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 962.00p +4.79%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,473.00p +4.69%FTSE 100 - FallersAdmiral Group (ADM) 881.00p -3.40%SSE (SSE) 1,291.00p -2.05%National Grid (NG.) 615.00p -1.99%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,526.00p -1.74%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 318.40p -1.39%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,175.00p -1.12%Centrica (CNA) 298.70p -0.99%Serco Group (SRP) 480.60p -0.99%BT Group (BT.A) 187.30p -0.90%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 727.50p -0.82%NR