London open: Financials lead markets higher early on

Equities were making decent gains on Monday morning with financial stocks on the rise in London as markets attempted to claw their way back from heavy losses last week.The FTSE 100 fell a total of 97.8 points last week, losing 1.53% of its value, as concerns about global economic growth and a sell-off in the commodities markets weighed on sentiment. Nevertheless, losses were trimmed after a decent rebound on Friday.Helping to lift markets this morning was the G20 showing support for the Bank of Japan's recent aggressive easing measures. There had been concerns that Japan would be warned about future bond buying given the rapid depreciation of the yen over the last few weeks."Instead, the statement acknowledged that the program was intended to put an end to deflation boost domestic activity, which essentially means the central bank has been given the green light to further weaken the yen," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.Meanwhile, Giorgio Napolitano allowed himself to be re-elected President of Italy over the weekend as the country attempted to move towards political stability two months after the inconclusive elections. "It gives an indication of the broken nature of Italian politics that an 87 year-old man feels compelled to stand again for a seven-year term, because bickering politicians cannot agree on a potential successor," said Michael Hewson, a Senior Market Analyst at CMC Markets.The focus of markets this week will likely be on gross domestic product (GDP) growth figures from both the UK and US on Thursday and Friday. Consensus estimates are for a 0.1% expansion in UK GDP in the first quarter, and 3.1% growth in the States.Financials gain early onAn increase in risk appetite was benefitting financial stocks this morning with banking peers Barclays, Lloyds, RBS, Standard Chartered and HSBC among the highest risers. Insurance giant Standard Life and asset manager Aberdeen were also in demand early on.Lloyds had been making headlines over the weekend on rumours that it is putting its fund management arm Scottish Widows Investment Partnership up for sale to raise £820m. US financial services giant Ameriprise is said to be considering an offer for the unit.ENRC was a heavy faller, pulling back after having surged by over a quarter on Friday after major shareholder Alexander Machkevitch said he was seeking a consortium to mount a bid for the Kazakhstan-focused miner. Consumer product group Reckitt Benckiser edged higher in early trading after reporting decent growth in the first quarter with its Health division performing strongly as a more favourable cold and flu season increased the demand for Strepsils, Mucinex and certain Nurofen products.Spirent Communications was a heavy faller on the FTSE 250 after saying that the slowdown in the market was worse than expected in the first quarter.Online betting group Betfair pleased the market after rejecting a proposal for a possible bid offer from CVC Capital Partners, saying that it under valued the company's prospects and was highly conditional.Events firm Informa gained after saying that the 3.6% organic revenue decline in the first quarter was as anticipated.FTSE 100 - RisersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 48.66p +2.46%Barclays (BARC) 292.35p +2.10%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,630.00p +2.00%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,757.00p +1.99%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 285.90p +1.93%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 255.50p +1.27%easyJet (EZJ) 1,122.00p +1.17%Standard Life (SL.) 338.20p +1.17%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 686.20p +1.03%ITV (ITV) 124.40p +0.97%FTSE 100 - FallersEurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 275.00p -5.50%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,133.00p -1.56%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,778.00p -0.95%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,108.00p -0.81%Evraz (EVR) 160.60p -0.74%Wolseley (WOS) 3,114.00p -0.61%Antofagasta (ANTO) 897.00p -0.61%Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,332.00p -0.51%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,775.00p -0.42%Melrose Industries (MRO) 243.60p -0.41%FTSE 250 - RisersOcado Group (OCDO) 143.50p +2.50%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 180.10p +2.39%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 409.10p +2.38%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 183.30p +2.35%Betfair Group (BET) 821.00p +1.99%Rank Group (RNK) 162.20p +1.88%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 169.70p +1.74%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 454.70p +1.68%Petropavlovsk (POG) 143.70p +1.63%Booker Group (BOK) 120.00p +1.61%FTSE 250 - FallersPersimmon (PSN) 1,056.00p -6.55%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 366.70p -4.93%Spirent Communications (SPT) 117.00p -4.10%Regus (RGU) 155.80p -2.56%Morgan Advance Materials (MGAM) 241.90p -2.26%Spectris (SXS) 1,876.00p -1.68%Alent (ALNT) 332.80p -1.68%Synthomer (SYNT) 175.30p -1.18%Anite (AIE) 115.70p -1.11%Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 544.00p -1.00%BC