LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s benchmark index closed with three digit gains on its return from the Easter break thanks to bumper advances amongst the banks.

HBOS enjoyed buying attention from investors following last night’s improved bid for Bears Stearns from JP Morgan Chase.

News that HBOS directors had bought shares in the group also helped the bank, which is expected to hand the Financial Services Authority its own detailed account of last week’s unusual trading patterns in its shares to aid the regulator’s investigation into possible stock manipulation.

Barclays, RBS, Alliance & Leicester and Lloyds TSB were also sharply higher.

Meanwhile, a report showing sales of US homes rose a stronger than expected 2.9% last month helped UK peers improve. Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon were in demand.

Yellow Pages publisher Yell Group enjoyed an impressive momentum change as the market decided that the recent fall has been overdone.

Oil major BP has recalled 148 employees from Russia as it struggles to renew visas amidst problems with its Russian venture TNK-BP.

Few leading stocks failed to participate in the advance but defensive favourites BATs and Imperial Tobacco are out of favour.

Wm Morrison was also down on its luck after Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket to 'neutral' from 'buy'.

Investors soured on convenience food group Uniq after it opted not to pay a final dividend as it expects a full recovery will now take longer due to the worsening economic environment.

Fund manager Liontrust saw another dip in assets under management in the past three months, with results for the year showing a drop of more than 18% to under £4.5bn.

Half year losses widened to £3m at Ceres Power due to increased investment spend, although the AIM listed fuel cell group believed it is well positioned going forward.

Oil drilling services provider and bid target Expro International reckons full year results will be at the top end of its expectations following continued strength in the second half.

Elsewhere, bulk shipping carrier Hellenic Carriers secured new loan facilities with banks of up to $310m to fund the purchase of two vessels and provide cash for future growth.

Investment company LMS Capital admitted it is in talks regarding the sale of its Energy Cranes business.

Mobile software specialist Artilium denied talk in the press that KPN Mobile International is to buy a minority equity stake in the company.

FTSE 100 - Risers
HBOS (HBOS) 544.50p +14.93%
Yell Group (YELL) 155.00p +12.32%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 183.30p +11.90%
Persimmon (PSN) 770.00p +10.24%
Wolseley (WOS) 550.50p +10.10%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 351.25p +9.34%
Old Mutual (OML) 114.40p +8.64%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 836.00p +8.01%
Schroders (SDR) 916.50p +7.89%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,212.00p +7.64%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
British American Tobacco (BATS) 1,822.00p -3.09%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 272.00p -2.68%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,300.00p -2.34%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 2,763.00p -0.75%
Shire (SHP) 1,036.00p -0.38%
Scottish & Newcastle (SCTN) 783.50p +0.32%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,074.00p +0.47%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 633.50p +0.48%
National Grid (NG.) 724.50p +0.76%
Unilever (ULVR) 1,685.00p +0.78%

FTSE 250 - Risers
New Star Asset Management Group (NSAM) 107.00p +17.26%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 597.50p +14.14%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 59.50p +13.33%
DSG International (DSGI) 66.00p +13.30%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 162.00p +13.09%
Redrow (RDW) 303.75p +12.50%
CSR (CSR) 338.00p +12.11%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 583.00p +11.47%
Tomkins (TOMK) 182.50p +11.45%
St James's Place (STJ) 248.00p +11.34%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 331.75p -4.39%
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 363.75p -3.96%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 412.00p -3.74%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 202.00p -3.35%
Connaught (CNT) 351.00p -2.97%
Homeserve (HSV) 1,984.00p -2.65%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,951.00p -2.41%
Pennon Group (PNN) 630.00p -1.87%
Expro International Group (EXR) 1,180.00p -1.67%
Dignity (DTY) 775.00p -1.59%

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