Banking shares rose this morning after first-half results from Barclays came in at the top end of City expectations.

Interim pre-tax profits at the bank fell 33 per cent to £2.8 billion, and John Varley, the chief executive, apologised to investors for the collapse in the share price, which is just over half what it was a year ago.

Barclays shares rose 13.5p to 382.5p on the news, with Lloyds TSB gaining 10.75p to 325p, and HBOS up 7p to 340p.

Miners continued to rise after Tuesday’s rally, with Eurasian Natural Resources up 59p to £10.76, Antofagasta adding 23.5p to 566p, and Vedanta Resources advancing 55p to £18.84.

Overall, the FTSE 100 was up 24.3 points to 5510.4.

International Power was the index’s heaviest faller, down 4.5p to 87.2p, after it cautioned that extended outages at its Rugeley coal-fired power station would affect performance in the second half of the year.

Friends Provident was also a big faller, down 4.3p to 87.4p, after disappointing first- half earnings and what analysts at UBS dubbed an unclear outlook.

In the FTSE 250 Debenhams was the biggest casualty, falling 3.75p to 53.75p, after Altium Securities downgraded the stock to "hold".

Dana Petroleum was among the second tier’s risers, up 78p to £13.55, after Goldman Sachs lifted its rating to "buy" noting the company’s exploration pipeline and potentially significant prospects being drilled over the next year.

Explore Markets

• United States

• Europe

• Japan

• China

• Russia

• The Gulf

• India

• Africa

Times Recommends

• Food prices rise 8.3% on soaring fish and meat
• Car sales crash as economy hits skids
• House prices fall but Bank leaves rates on hold