European shares have bounced back from Friday's slide after Eurozone governments announced guarantee measures for banks and central banks moved to boost liquidity.
Bank shares gained initially but later lost some ground. By 1pm, London's FTSE was up 3.9% at 4,084, after three leading British banks accepted billions of pounds of taxpayers' money to prop up their ailing institutions.
The Paris CAC soared 5% to 3,367 while the Frankfurt DAX jumped 6.5% to stand at 4,841. In London, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB were down 6% and HBOS lost 22%.
Boosted by the news that the EU Commission had approved the Government's €400bn deposit guarantee, the Dublin ISEQ index gained 2.6% to 2,946.
Irish Life & Permanent jumped 13% to €4 but other bank shares moved lower, with Bank of Ireland down 8% to €2.30.
Earlier this morning in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index raced over 10% higher. The Tokyo market is closed for a bank holiday, as are markets on Wall Street.
Meanwhile the Reykjavik stock exchange, which had been expected to reopen today after closing for two days last week, will remain closed until tomorrow, the market authorities said.
