London - Britain's top share index rose on Friday but lagged behind euro zone shares after Athens submitted fresh reform proposals to its creditors, offering a glimmer of hope for some kind of progress over Greece's debt crisis.
The Greek parliament will vote on whether to throw its weight behind the new proposals, and two senior figures from the ruling Syriza party sounded an optimistic note on Friday morning about securing the lawmakers' backing.
“For Greece, it looks like the majority of the Eurozone want to find a compromise and this is boosting sentiment, but the big risk I see is the Greek electorate rejecting the deal that's reached,” said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct.
The FTSE 100 was up 1 percent by 08h54 GMT after closing 1.4 percent higher on Thursday, moving further away from the six-month lows touched earlier in the week.
InterContinental Hotels Group gained the most, jumping 3 percent after the company said it had agreed to sell InterContinental Hong Kong to a consortium of investors for $938 million and may return some of the proceeds to shareholders.
IAG, the owner of British Airways, rose 2.7 percent after budget airline Ryanair said it would accept an IAG offer for its stake in Aer Lingus, paving the way for the 1.3 billion-euro ($1.5 billion) takeover of the Irish carrier to go ahead.
“I think the fact Ryanair has sold its Are Lingus stake is helping IAG outperform, although the fact that the wheels aren't about to fall off the global economy (not just yet, anyway) is also helping the sector, but IHG's news of its Hong Kong disposal is another great gift for investors,” Cross said.
Among other risers, housebuilders Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments climbed 1.5 and 1.7 percent respectively on reports that Britain will announce an overhaul of rules on how and where new houses can be built as it tries to address a chronic shortage of homes.
They built on gains of the previous session, recovering from declines earlier in the week after Britain's finance minister announced a cut in tax breaks for landlords and a tightening of tax rules for people officially domiciled in another country.
Reuters