By Sarah Jones
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks rallied for a third day, led by Barclays Plc after the lender said it had a “strong start” to 2009 and the Group of 20 vowed to clean up toxic financial assets.
Barclays, Britain’s third-largest bank, surged 14 percent. Rexam Plc advanced 5.9 percent as Credit Suisse Group AG recommended the world’s biggest maker of beverage cans.
The FTSE 100 Index jumped 37.24, or 1 percent, to 3,790.92 at 8:28 a.m. in London. All but 14 stocks on the U.K benchmark climbed as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said a depression had been avoided. The FTSE All-Share Index gained 0.9 percent, while Ireland’s ISEQ Index added 2.3 percent.
Barclays jumped 14 percent to 84.1 pence. The lender also said its businesses continue to perform well. Barclays said it has held talks about the sale of its iShares unit, but no decision on the sale of any assets had been made.
Finance chiefs from the G-20 this weekend vowed to work together to clean up the toxic assets that helped trigger the financial crisis and led banks to rack up more than $1.2 trillion in losses. G-20 officials outlined guidelines on how governments should rid banks of distressed securities.
Rexam added 5.9 percent to 253.25 pence after Credit Suisse upgraded the world’s biggest maker of beverage cans to “outperform” from “neutral,” saying “the sell-off is overdone and unjustified.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net.
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