London Market Report

1.35 (Open): Shares in Vodafone climbed 2.6% following reports at the weekend that the mobile firm was considering selling its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless.

The Sunday Times reported that Vodafone favours selling its stake in its joint venture with Verizon Communications.

Overall, shares opened higher as global markets welcomed the news that eurozone finance ministers had agreed a 10bn-euro bailout deal for Cyprus.

The FTSE 100 was up 32.81 points at 6,425.57 shortly after trading began.

Financial shares led the index higher. Among the banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group both rose 2%.

On the currency markets, the pound dipped against the euro as the single currency rose following the deal for Cyprus. The pound fell by 0.1% against the euro to 1.1713 euros, while against the dollar the pound was unchanged at $1.5227.

Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print More Business stories RSS

View the Original article