LONDON (ShareCast) - An upgrade of Greece's credit rating and a better-than-expected reading of German sentiment saw European stock markets make impressive gains on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, increasing optimism that US leaders can strike a deal to avert the 'fiscal cliff' was also continuing to bolster the bullish mood.

It seems as if the "Santa Rally is in full flight as markets hit their highs", said CMC Markets senior sales trader Matt Basi. After surpassing the previous 52-week high of 5,966 on March 16th, the FTSE 100 is now trading at levels not seen since July 2011.

Market strategist Ishaq Siddiqi from ETX Capital also said: "Santa has returned to the markets, bringing some much needed cheer before the Christmas break – traders are feeling risky as such, picking up euros, stocks oil and even gold but dumping core government bonds."

Yesterday evening, S&P upgraded its rating for Greece from 'selective default' to 'B-minus'. The yield on a 10-year Greek bond was down 13 basis points at 12.7% this morning.

S&P said: “The upgrade reflects our view of the strong determination of Eurozone member states to preserve Greek membership. […] The outlook on the long-term rating is stable, balancing our view of the government's commitment to a fiscal and structural adjustment against the economic and political challenges of doing so."

The IFO institute reported this morning that the German business climate index improved to 102.4 in December, above the 101.4 reading the month before and ahead of the 102.0 forecasts. Meanwhile, while the current assessment survey missed estimates, the expectations survey provided a beat.

In other news, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted eight-to-one in favour to keep its asset purchase programme at £375bn in this month's meeting. The MPC voted unanimously to keep the Bank Rate at 0.5%.

FTSE 100: Financials making gains

Banks and insurers were on the up this morning after Credit Suisse turned 'overweight' on the European financial sector. Banking groups Lloyds, StanChart and RBS were joined higher by insurance firms Admiral and Standard Life.

Building material group CRH was benefitting from an upgrade by Deutsche Bank to 'buy'.

Distribution and outsourcing firm Bunzl fell sharply after buying McCordick Glove & Safety based near Toronto, Canada, and Atlas Health Care in Adelaide, Australia. The news comes as the group said that group revenue growth in 2012 is expected to be 6% at constant exchange rates.

Home improvement retail group Kingfisher fell after announcing that its Chief Operating Officer (COO) Euan Sutherland is to leave the company next year to become head of The Co-operative Group after just a couple of months on the board.

Advertising and media group WPP was lower after selling a freehold property at 285 Madison Avenue in New York for $189.24m.

United Utilities was in the red after going ex-dividend, along with Burberry, though the latter had pushed into the blue by midday.

FTSE 250: Vesuvius leads fallers after de-merger

Vesuvius, previously known as Cookson, was showing as the heaviest faller on the FTSE 250 after the de-merger of its Performance Materials division to Alent became effective. Vesuvius now only consists mainly of Cookson's Engineered Ceramics division so the sharp drop in the share price was as expected this morning.

Berendsen, the European textile maintenance company, was flat after saying that trading continues to be in line with expectations and that it expects to report "good" year-on-year progress for 2012.

Oil and gas producer Salamander Energy rose after it signed two new borrowing facilities together totalling $350m, designed to extend the maturity of the group's financing, simplify Salamander's borrowing structure and lower its cost of debt.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 48.70p +3.31%
CRH (CRH) 1,199.00p +2.74%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 745.00p +2.26%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 311.90p +2.23%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,547.50p +2.21%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 280.20p +2.04%
Barclays (BARC) 266.40p +2.01%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,142.00p +1.95%
Wolseley (WOS) 2,850.00p +1.93%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 184.10p +1.88%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,019.00p -4.41%
GKN (GKN) 224.90p -1.66%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 692.00p -1.07%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,173.00p -1.01%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,925.00p -0.88%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,572.00p -0.69%
Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 358.10p -0.69%
Pearson (PSON) 1,197.00p -0.66%
Experian (EXPN) 1,004.00p -0.59%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 155.55p -0.45%

FTSE 250 - Risers
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 308.20p +6.28%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 102.40p +6.00%
Synthomer (SYNT) 190.90p +4.60%
Salamander Energy (SMDR) 173.80p +4.01%
William Hill (WMH) 346.30p +3.59%
Ruspetro (RPO) 79.25p +3.32%
Regus (RGU) 103.30p +3.30%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 357.20p +3.30%
Diploma (DPLM) 518.00p +3.19%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 31.75p +3.08%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Vesuvius (VSVS) 322.20p -50.05%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 40.50p -3.80%
Halfords Group (HFD) 336.00p -3.03%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 484.50p -1.92%
Bumi (BUMI) 265.80p -1.74%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 79.80p -1.66%
Homeserve (HSV) 237.80p -1.53%
Murray Income Trust (MUT) 675.50p -1.39%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 268.00p -1.36%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 70.80p -1.32%

BC

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE