FTSE 100 gains as British banks bounce back; Rentokil rises

London shares rose on Thursday as banking stocks rebounded after Credit Suisse said it would borrow funds from the Swiss central bank, injecting some confidence in the sector, while Rentokil jumped after posting a higher profit. UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.4%, rebounding from its steepest fall in over a year on Wednesday.

London shares rose on Thursday as banking stocks rebounded after Credit Suisse said it would borrow funds from the Swiss central bank, injecting some confidence in the sector, while Rentokil jumped after posting a higher profit.

UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.4%, rebounding from its steepest fall in over a year on Wednesday. British banks gained 1.8%, after falling 5.6% in the previous session.

Credit Suisse jumped nearly 20% on plans to borrow up to $54 billion from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to shore up liquidity and investor confidence. British finance minister Jeremy Hunt said that he was encouraged by the news.

Lenders HSBC and Barclays gained 1.9% and 2.7% respectively. "Taking a page from the Americans' book in 2008 and over the weekend, rapid action to reassure depositors will hopefully start to calm things down," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Standard Chartered's deputy chief financial officer said on Wednesday the lender is not seeing a direct impact on its liquidity or balance sheet from the fallout in global markets after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week. Its shares gained 1.1%. British banks have seen volatile sessions this week, as global markets continue to struggle in the aftermath of the collapse of two U.S. regional banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, threatening a global banking meltdown.

Rentokil Initial jumped 6.1% to the top of the FTSE 100 after the pest control services provider lifted its medium-term outlook after posting a better-than-expected annual profit. The more domestically-focussed FTSE 250 midcap index were subdued, though asset manager Bridgepoint Group rose 2.9% after reporting a higher revenue for 2022.

Global investor focus could now shift to the European Central Bank, which is seen hiking rates by another hefty 50 basis points later in the day, while the Bank of England's rate decision was due next week.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)