Britain's FTSE 100 was up 2.8 percent by midday on Friday, with world stocks on track for one of the largest weekly gains in 20 years, driven by miners and financials on recovery hopes for the U.S. banking system, Reuters reported. By 1112 GMT the FTSE 100 index was 102.01 points higher at 3,714.07, after closing up 18.25 points, or 0.5 percent in the previous session. Easing worries about further instability in the U.S. banking industry brought investors rushing back into financial equities. "We still see a follow-on from positive sentiment coming out of the U.S. banking sector," said Keith Bowman, analyst at Hargreaves Landsdown. "Obviously this week we've had Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan highlighting profitability in 2009 and that helps the financial sector in the States and many parts of the world," Bowman said. Bank of America said on Thursday it was profitable in January and February, and should be able to ride out the recession without new help from U.S. taxpayers. UK bank shares followed their U.S. peers, with Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland up between 0.6 and 7.4 percent. Heavyweight miners were the biggest blue chip gainers, as base metal prices rose on hopes for a demand recovery in China.
