London and European stock markets edged up as the G20 talks in Cannes continued on Friday, with Royal Bank of Scotland boosting the UK after climbing 5% on its profits update.

FIVE OF THE BEST

Both the German Dax and the French Cac 40 are rallying on hopes Greece is more likely to accept the debt deal, and as the ECB takes action to tackle the crisis.

Banking shares plunged this morning, leading markets lower, following news Greek prime minster George Papandreou has called a referendum over last week's eurozone rescue deal.

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse will cut another 1,500 jobs from its global workforce of 50,700 despite profits rising in Q3, the BBC has reported.

Rathbone Unit Trust Management has seen its fourth consecutive quarter of net inflows, but assets under management fell after the market sell-off.

US brokerage MF Global is set to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over its £4bn eurozone debt exposure, the BBC reports.

Henderson will hand reins of the fund to Neil Gregson who has worked with him for a year.

The loss of France's AAA-rating would be a worse scenario for the global economy than the downgrade of the US, said Ignis chief economist Stuart Thomson.

Chinese authorities are on the brink of contributing to the eurozone's bailout fund, but key conditions have to be met first,according to reports.