Footsie stormed above 5,200 in trading and kept on going, finishing north of 5,300 on hopes that tomorrow's meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Brussels will be the occasion on which a number of new measured, aimed at getting to grips with the region's debt problems, will be announced.

Banks were prominent among the best performers, buoyed by suggestions that progress is being made on the souped-up version of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Some reports say the Europe Union (EU) finance chiefs are discussing the possibility that the EFSF could insure the bonds of debt-ravaged countries, with guarantees of 20% to 30%.

The German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, seemed to capture the zeitgeist in an interview with Berlin-based television station ARD. Schäuble maintained that progress must be made on providing a "decisive" answer to the need to ensure EU member states' budget discipline.

The German Finance Minister suggested that treaty changes, to give the European Commission veto power over Eurozone countries' budget proposals, must be implemented and stated that "we can do that quickly and it will send an important signal to markets that the euro is, and remains, a stable currency.

"We must work together to set up institutions that can secure trust in the euro. Everything that detracts from that is damaging," according to Schäuble

Lenders Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds and Standard Chartered were all sharply higher on the prospect that their losses on European sovereign debt may not now be so severe. Insurers also had a good day, with Aviva and Prudential to the fore.

A SOAR POINT

Also on the upturn was troubled package tour operator Thomas Cook after it agreed a new financial lifeline with its bankers late last Friday.

The 170-year-old company is said to be preparing a publicity barrage trumpeting its new-found financial stability, after bookings reportedly took a dive last week as holidaymakers thought twice about booking through the firm.

The previous emergency banking deal arranged by the company on October 21st lasted just over a month before the company was forced to go cap in hand back to the bankers; both shareholders and those who have booked holidays through the company will be hoping the company has got its numbers right this time.

Sector peer TUI Travel rose in sympathy, as did British Airways owner IAG.

IN A HOLE

Miners were firmer, with the notable exception of gold digger Randgold Resources, which has cut its production forecast for the year after running into a number a difficulties at its Tongon mine in Côte d'Ivoire. The company now expects group production for the year to drop from between 740,000 and 760,000 ounces to between 690,000 to 700,000 ounces.

Meanwhile, at diversified mining leviathan BHP Billiton, there are to be changes at the top after the surprise announcement of the imminent departure of Alex Vanselow, Group Executive and Chief Financial Officer of the group.

He will be succeeded by Graham Kerr, recently President of BHP Billiton's Diamonds and Speciality Products business. Mike Henry, President of Marketing, will join the Group Management Committee as Group Executive and Chief Marketing Officer, reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, Marius Kloppers.

ROLLING ALONG

Engineer Senior is reducing its dependence on US aeroplane maker Boeing with the acquisition of Airbus-parts supplier Weston. Based in Colne, Lancashire, but with production facilities in Thailand, Weston counts Rolls-Royce, Spirit Aerosystems (Europe) and Contour Aerospace as its biggest customers.

As for Rolls-Royce itself, the company and the trustees of its pension fund have come to an arrangement with Deutsche Bank that will see the bank share the burden of pension payments should pension scheme members live longer than expected; the corollary to this is that the fund will have to make payments to Deutsche Bank if members die younger than anticipated.

Engineer Weir Group shot higher after Barclays Capital increased its price target for pumps specialist from 2350p to 2500p.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,943.00p +8.25%
Barclays (BARC) 167.85p +7.84%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 994.50p +7.17%
Schroders (SDR) 1,284.00p +6.56%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 857.50p +6.52%
Aviva (AV.) 298.50p +6.46%
Prudential (PRU) 598.00p +5.75%
Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,092.00p +5.71%
Man Group (EMG) 132.30p +5.67%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 450.00p +5.63%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,240.00p -7.90%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,266.00p +0.53%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,359.50p +1.19%
National Grid (NG.) 639.00p +1.19%
Bunzl (BNZL) 806.00p +1.19%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,197.00p +1.20%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,859.50p +1.22%
Serco Group (SRP) 474.30p +1.24%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 315.30p +1.32%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 168.55p +1.32%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 21.73p +20.59%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 291.50p +13.25%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 187.20p +10.05%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
De La Rue (DLAR) 904.50p -3.37%
SDL (SDL) 629.50p -1.87%
Carpetright (CPR) 375.00p -1.57%

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jh

Related share prices
Barclays (BARC) share price
BHP Billiton (BLT) share price
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) share price
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) share price
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) share price
Senior (SNR) share price
Weir Group (WEIR) share price
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) share price
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) share price