London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,469.29 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Prudential, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lloyds and NatWest were all higher.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: “The recovery in Hong Kong markets over the past few days, along with rising yields appears to be acting as a tailwind for HSBC and Standard Chartered, along with Prudential, all of whom do a large amount of business in the region.”
The sector was also boosted by hawkish comments overnight from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. In a speech at the National Association of Business Economics conference, Powell said the US central bank must move “expeditiously” to raise rates and possibly “more aggressively”, as it looks to combat inflation.
JD Sports rallied following well-received third-quarter earnings from Nike in the US.
On the downside, Auto Trader slid after announcing the acquisition of Autorama, one of the UK’s largest transactional marketplaces for leasing new vehicles, for up to £200m.
B&Q owner Kingfisher also lost ground after it said current-year first-quarter sales were down 8.1%, as it reported 2021/22 profits up by a third.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Prudential (PRU) 1,131.00p 4.34%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 519.90p 3.81%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 524.60p 3.68%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 50.32p 3.48%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 223.10p 3.38%
Aviva (AV.) 439.70p 3.14%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,643.50p 2.43%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 152.50p 2.42%
Barclays (BARC) 172.48p 2.36%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 133.15p 2.27%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 649.20p -4.02%
Kingfisher (KGF) 280.70p -3.64%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,060.00p -3.37%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 148.60p -2.24%
Croda International (CRDA) 7,354.00p -2.21%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,320.00p -1.92%
Fresnillo (FRES) 734.00p -1.87%
Rightmove (RMV) 659.80p -1.79%
Halma (HLMA) 2,492.00p -1.74%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,780.00p -1.67%
