Monday morning market opening

Dec 14 2009 By nebusiness

THE FTSE 100 Index surged ahead today during an upbeat session for banks and after positive trading updates from Cadbury and Whitbread.

Investors were comforted by developments in Dubai, where the government said it had received £6bn in emergency funds from oil-rich neighbour Abu Dhabi to pay debts owed by its struggling conglomerate.

This gave a lift to banking stocks as the Footsie climbed 51.7 points to 5313.6 in the first hour of trading.

A strong take up for shares on offer in the £13.5bn rights issue by Lloyds Banking Group also helped as Royal Bank of Scotland lifted 1.1p to 31.7p and HSBC added 16.6p to 720p.

Leisure group Whitbread was another strong riser after ``outstanding" trading at its coffee business Costa and a revival at Premier Inn led it to forecast profits ahead of City hopes. Shares gained 3%, or 40p to 1370p.

There was also a gain of 4p to 794.5p for Cadbury after the confectionery firm replied to Kraft’s hostile takeover bid by upping long-term performance targets.

Outside the top flight, shares in outsourcing firm Mouchel surged 28%, or 52.75p to 242.75p, after it said it had rejected two takeover approaches from VT Group, which rose 2p to 543.5p.