Financial Market Comments from David Jones, Chief Market Strategist, IG Index.

In mid-morning trading, shares have made a strong start.

The FTSE 100 has benefited from renewed interest in the banking sector, clawing back 38 points and making a gallant stab at a new intraday high for the year.

The index is just 30 points short of the midday high of mid-November.

Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and RBS are all up between 3.13% and 4.5% and short-term investors seem content to rummage through the rubble, happily disregarding concerns about the longer term health of Lloyds and RBS.

The two banks, along with HSBC and Standard Chartered, have a total exposure of £3 billion in the crisis-hit Dubai World.

Already this week, UK sentiment has received a minor kick in the teeth after yesterday’s construction figures came in below expectations.

Today’s CIPS index reading dampened sentiment further after revealing that the sector rose by a disappointing 56.6 in November following a faster expansion of 56.9 the month before.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if sentiment turned sour again as the week draws to a close, should tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls in the US come in below expectations.

Good Luck!

DB

The above comments do not constitute investment advice Clean Financial accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.

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