Strong appetite for ECB loans fails to boost markets

Markets have struggled to gain further ground after the European Central Bank announced it had lent almost €500bn to banks in a three-year liquidity operation.

The ECB's three-year long term refinancing operation saw 523 banks borrow €489bn from the central bank, a figure well above consensus expectations of between €250bn and €330bn. The FTSE 100 moved as high as 5,479 following the announcement, a rise of 1.1%, before falling back to 5,454. In Europe, the Cac 40 rose 1.5% to 3,102 and the Dax rose by 1.5% to 5,935 before paring gains. Financials were the biggest gainers, though the largest rises came in anticipation of the ECB announcement. Lloyds Banking Group rose as much as 5.6% to 24.95p, with RBS up 4.4% at 20.5p. In Germany, Deutsche...