Private wealth investors see European shares climb

Those who have invested a portion of their private wealth into European stocks and shares have seen markets climb during trading this morning (April 30th).

Indexes have edged higher on optimism Greece will receive a package of financial assistance in the near future, with banks among the strongest performers when the markets opened.

According to Reuters, there were gains of as much as 1.4 per cent for Lloyds Banking Group, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland.

This helped the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 be 0.3 per cent higher at 08:29 BST, taking it to 1,073.46 points.

Barclays fell, however, dropping 4.5 per cent after it posted lower-than-expected first-quarter results for its investment banking arm.

Its shares slipped despite the fact it recorded a 47 per cent year-on-year rise in pre-tax profit for the three months to the end of March, putting the total figure at £1.82 billion.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19753113-ADNFCR