Morning Markets: FTSE lifted by employment boost

The FTSE opened at 5,674.63, up 32.01 points (0.57%), on the back of positive employment figures from both the UK and US yesterday.

UK unemployment fell by 33,000, while the jobless rate declined to 7.8% posting the first quarterly decline in nearly two years. US jobless claims data showed a decline of 5,000 to 457,000, while February inflation remained unchanged following a 0.2% increase in the previous month. Bank shares held centre stage after an encouraging trading update from Lloyds, which forecast a return to profit later this year. In the UK, Barclays emerged atop the leaderboard trading at 36p, up 7.10 (2.01%) Elsewhere Lloyd's was trading at 60p, up 4.57 (8.23%) while RBS was at 43p up 1.99 (4.74%). ...