LONDON ? ?Banks led U.K. stocks higher on Wednesday after a ratings upgrade, while investors also digested minutes from the Bank of England's latest policy meeting.
The FTSE 100 index climbed 0.4% to close at 5,961.59, extending gains into a second straight day.
Banking shares posted the biggest gains in the index. Credit Suisse lifted the European banking sector to benchmark from small underweight, saying the lower cost of capital should make it easier to reach required profitability levels.
Shares of Lloyds Banking Group PLC jumped 4.4%, while Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) rose 3.4%. Sector heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) added 2% and Barclays PLC (BCS) rose 2.1%.
Investors also considered minutes from the Bank of England's latest policy meeting, which showed near unanimity on the policy-setting committee for leaving the central bank's asset-purchase program unchanged.
Among other notable movers, shares of CRH PLC gained 5%, as Deutsche Bank lifted the construction-material firm to buy from hold.
"Although the still subdued performance of CRH's European markets should weigh down group volume growth in 2013, we believe that the decline in euro-area sovereign risk and its gradual positive impact on sentiment should cause the stock to rerate," Deutsche Bank said.
Energy shares mostly gained, as crude-oil futures moved higher.
Shares of Tullow Oil PLC and BP PLC (BP) both rose 0.7%.
Shares of Diageo PLC gained 0.5% and SABMiller PLC gained 0.8%. Credit Suisse raised the beverage sector to overweight from benchmark, citing strong growth prospects and emerging-market exposure.
On a more downbeat note, shares of British American Tobacco PLC (BTI) slid 2.6%, after the bank cut the tobacco sector to underweight from benchmark, citing worries over plain-packaging laws among other things.
Imperial Tobacco Group PLC fell 0.9%.
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Source: http://feeds.foxbusiness.com/~r/foxbusiness/markets/~3/CF7HutR3594/
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