Sector movers: Barclays provides a lift to the banking sector

Banks were among the best performing stocks on Friday afternoon, helped by the well-received interim results from Barclays and some reassuring remarks by European officials about the debt crisis.Underlying pre-tax profits came in at £4.2bn, 11% ahead of consensus estimates, with investment banking division Barclays Capital leading the charge. Meanwhile, revenues of £15.5bn were 2% ahead of forecasts. Investors shrugged off the news of a new regulatory investigation - this time over fees it paid to advisors when it raised fresh capital in the middle of the credit crunch - with shares racing over 9% ahead.Meanwhile, lifting sentiment in the sector were German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande: they issued a statement today saying that their countries are "bound by the deepest duty" to keep the Eurozone intact and that they will do "everything" necessary to protect the single currency. This follows comments made by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi yesterday, who said that the ECB would do "whatever it takes to preserve the euro...and believe me, it will be big enough". With policy-makers and political leaders pledging to do what they can to battle the debt crisis, risk appetite on equity markets increased this afternoon, sending shares of banking peers RBS, Lloyds and HSBC higher.Top performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 2,450.32 +3.27%Construction & Materials 3,391.36 +2.21%Industrial Engineering 6,956.93 +2.15%Banks 3,524.34 +2.02%Electronic & Electrical Equipment 3,145.37 +2.01%Bottom performing sectors so far todayHealth Care Equipment & Services 3,697.90 -0.34%Electricity 8,121.11 -0.24%Food Producers & Processors 5,892.48 -0.11%BC