At the close: FTSE 100 climbs out of the Brexit bloodbath after major losses in recent sessions
The FTSE 100 bounced back today, as investors bought back into a market that had been heavily sold off in previous sessions.
Just nine stocks finished in negative territory, pushing the blue-chip index up by 2.6 per cent to 6,140.39 points.
Falls of over five per cent in the last two sessions had wiped nearly £100bn in value of from company market capitalisations.
Insurers and banks, which were some of the hardest hit stocks following the Brexit led the market higher.
Prudential rose by 7.7 per cent, while Legal & General climbed by 7.9 per cent. Aviva, Standard Life and Old Mutual rose 3.4 to 5.7 per cent.
Broker Hargreaves Lansdown added 8.9 per cent, leading the gainers.
Lloyds Banking Group was the best performing of the top tier banks, rising 7.4 per cent. The banking index rallied 2.9 per cent after slumping 16.4 per cent in two days.
Challenger bank Shawbrook reversed the trend however, ditching 14 per cent after it said irregularities in its asset finance business would result in an additional impairment charge, and its chief financial officer Tom Wood had stepped down.
Travel and leisure stocks also performed well, adding 1.6 per cent after heavy sell offs.
At the other end of the scale miners went into reverse, with Fresnillo, Antofagasta, and Randgold Resources all dropping by 0.8 to 2.3 per cent.
Even the FTSE 250 managed to eek out a rise, climbing by 3.6 per cent following a 13.7 per cent slump since Thursday's close.
Shares in online grocer Ocado were up 8.6 per cent after it posted a rise in profit in an increasingly competitive market.