A good day to be British as the FTSE shoots up, and property repossessions are down.

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A good day to be British as the FTSE shoots up, and property repossessions are down.

It might only be the good old co-op, but a touch of humility none the less. The Co-operative Bank announced that they halved home repossessions during the last 16 months. While this sounds very encouraging the actual reduction in repossessions was down from 16 to eight. Nevertheless, a lead for the bigger players in the mortgage market to follow, where it was reported that repossessions for the first quarter of 2009 actually doubled from the corresponding period of 2008.

Recent reports also confirm that property prices rose in May by the highest levels for more than fifteen months as access to mortgages became easier.

UK high street retailer Alliance Boots, taken private almost two years ago in the biggest buy-out in European business history, have announced the acquisition of more £400million of outstanding debt at a steep discount of less than 70p in the pound. The buybacks have been funded by Alliance Boots’ holding company, including £60m from the issue of new shares.

The FTSE had a great day yesterday with Lloyds Banking Group Plc leading the ways. Shares in the bank surged forward by 9.9 percent (10 pence to 98) after they confirmed that they will be offering investors four billion pounds of stock this week. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest bank, rose 4.4 percent to (25 pence to 555)

Travel companies were also higher as Europe’s second-largest travel company; Thomas Cook Group Plc announced that they were in the market for further acquisitions. Their shares jumped 6.3 percent (17pence to 237), after seven days of stock declines. TUI Travel Plc, the biggest travel company, also added 2.5 percent (6 pence to 257)

India’s largest copper producer Vedanta Resources Plc climbed 6.8 percent as it was estimated that India’s next government will permit increased foreign investment. Shares climbed 6.8 percent (100 pence to 1,405) Indian based U.K. owned oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy Plc, also saw their shares rise by 5.1 percent (122 pence to 2,454)

The FTSE 100 Index advanced a whopping 98.34 points to 4,446.45, the biggest daily increase since April 29, marking a 27 percent climb from its lowest level this year. The FTSE also climbed to 7,694.38, from 7,472.33 yesterday, a rise of 222 points.

The pound against the dollar by 0.8 percent to $1.5297, making for a 3.5 percent gain during the most month of May, added to the 3.3 percent appreciation in April against the dollar, making for the biggest gain since soaring 5.1 percent in April of 2006.

Pound/US dollar 1.5297
Pound/Euro 1.1352
Pound/Japanese Yen 148.94
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.719

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 2.85%, or 235.44 points, at 8,504.08, with the NASDAQ holding up its share, rising 52.22 to 1732.36

Positive news from the housing and banking sectors saw US shares rise sharply on Monday's trading, indicating continued investor confidence in the economic recovery.

In Germany, car giant Volkswagen (VW) has said it has suspended their merger talks with luxury carmaker Porsche, stating that constructive negotiations were not possible for the time being, whilst urging Porsche to reduce their debt.
However Porsche insisted that negotiations over the merger would continue.

Commodities remain stable, with crude oil up nine cents a barrel to $58.85. Gold ended its rise by dropping $3.20 an ounce to $918.50 and copper reserved its decline up $7.05 to close at $207.55 an ounce.