By Duncan Robinson High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0470dd22-20c9-11e1-816d-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1frCLWzuQ European banks rose during trading on Wednesday morning, as lenders jumped at the chance to borrow dollars from the European Central Bank at a reduced cost. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 0.5 per cent to 994.53, recovering the previous session’s losses, after a successful, fully-covered German Bund auction. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0470dd22-20c9-11e1-816d-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1frCNa8iD The FTSE Eurofirst banks index rose 0.6 per cent to 374.57, as the European Central Bank said that it would lend $50.7bn to 34 eurozone banks for 84 days, after halving the cost of these funds last week. Demand for three-month loans at the previous ECB auction was much lower, with only $395m lent out. BNP Paribas jumped 1.5 per cent to €33.55, Société Générale also rose 1.3 per cent to €20.53, while Crédit Agricole advanced 1.4 per cent to €4.97. Milan’s FTSE MIB rose 0.3 per cent to 15,896.27, with Italian banks leading the gains. Banca Popolare di Milano rose 2.9 per cent to €0.30, while Unione di Banche jumped 3.6 per cent to €3.35. In Frankfurt, the Dax rose 0.4 per cent to 6,055.86. Commerzbank rose 2.2 per cent to €1.43, while Deutsche Bank nudged up 0.9 per cent to €29.93. Prospects of weak Christmas sales continued to dog the retail sector across Europe. The German retailer Metro fell a further 3 per cent to €30.92 after it issued a profit warning on Tuesday. “The company has suffered a weak start to Christmas trading, coupled with negative FX and the increasingly noticeable effects of the sovereign debt crisis on consumer confidence,� said James Monro, equity research analyst at Standard and Poor’s. H&M slipped 0.8 per cent to SKr209.30, after falling 2 per cent the previous session. Carrefour fell 0.6 per cent to €18.90, after dropping 6.3 per cent on Tuesday, while the CAC 40 index rose 0.8 per cent to 3,204.62. Alcatel-Lucent rose 3.7 per cent to €1.25 in a relief rally, after fears that it would be excluded from the CAC 40 dogged its share price earlier in the week. In Madrid, the Ibex 35 rose 0.6 per cent to 8,763.8.

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