Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays push markets up

Good news at last for banking shares as Royal Bank of Scotland (LON: RBS) and Barclays (LON: BARC) pushed up markets in a positive way albeit marginally. This was mainly thanks to talks that Brazil’s Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) might take a stake in RBS.

According to Deutsche analysts, a positive note on Barclays from Deutsche Bank also helped. Barclays offers both growth and recovery potential, and at a discounted valuation. Barclays also offers recovery potential via better net interest margins and loan losses in the retail and commercial banking operations.

Royal Bank of Scotland was the biggest riser on Monday as the FTSE 100 hit a 16-month high on the first day of trading of the New Year. Shares in RBS rose 2.9p to 32.1p amid reports Itau Unibanco may take a stake in the Government-controlled bank.

Source guardian.co.uk.