LONDON: Britain's top share index jumped at the open on Thursday, helping by surges in bank Lloyds and insurer RSA after strong full-year results.
The FTSE 100 rose 1.7 percent to 5,967.02 in early deals, having dropped nearly 3 percent in the previous two sessions.
Shares in Lloyds gained nearly 10 percent after it reported a rise in profits and said it would pay a special dividend of 0.5 pence a share, demonstrating its recovery from the financial crisis.
Last month, the government postponed plans to sell more of its 9 percent stake in the bank, due to market volatility. Traders said the disposals by the government might continue after the well-received update.
"The special dividend is definitely a benefit to the stock today," said Mark Foulds, sales trader at ETX Capital.
"The government were going to sell some of their stock, but then pulled out... when they see the stock up 10 percent today, they might see it as an opportunity to sell again."
Insurer RSA rose 7.6 percent after it posted a 43 percent increase in operating profit for 2015.
Telecom group BT rose 3.2 percent after Ofcom said the company should be overhauled rather than split up, as some rivals had been calling for.
The rise brought the FTSE 100 into positive territory for the week, looking set to build on last week's rise, which was the biggest of the year so far. The index remains down 4.5 percent this year, hit by concerns over global growth.
Top fallers were Rio Tinto and easyJet as they traded without entitlement to their latest dividend payouts.
Among mid-caps, oursourcer Serco rose 9.7 percent after in-line results, with some traders saying that its net debt position had improved.
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