Bank shares rally on hopes of Greece debt deal

European bank shares have risen as investors react to the latest attempts to stabilise Greece's debt crisis. After heavy falls last week, financial stocks recovered, with French and German banks up strongly. Markets in London, Frankfurt and Paris fluctuated in early trading, initially falling about 1.5%, and some commodity prices, including copper, fell sharply. Officials at the International Monetary Fund are trying to find a solution to the eurozone's debt problems. There have been reports that the outline of an ambitious rescue plan is taking shape. This may involve a 50% write-down of Greece's debt and boosting the size of the eurozone bailout fund to 2 trillion euros (£1.7tn; $2.7tn). Uncertainty over how to tackle Greece's problems has led to bank shares tumbling. But on Monday, French banks, which are particularly exposed to Greece, rallied, with BNP Paribas up 6% and Credit Agricole up 3.5%. Germany's big banks rose 4%. In the UK, RBS rose 2% and Barclays 1.8%. However, market volatility is expected to continue. "In spite of talk at the weekend that EU leaders are looking at expanding the size of the current (EU) bail-out fund to 3tn euros, markets are likely to remain cautious, even if it appears that European leaders do appear to be finally grasping the fact that the current situation cannot go on forever," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. Commodity prices remained under pressure, pulled between relief that a eurozone deal could be nearer and worries that the global economy faces a downturn. 'Critical days' Oil prices fell sharply in early trading, but recovered slightly with Brent crude 0.2% lower at $103.75 a barrel and US light, sweet crude down 0.9% at $79.10 a barrel. The stronger dollar, which rose around 0.2% against a basket of currencies, also weighed on oil prices as it makes dollar-denominated assets more expensive. Gold fell 2.7% to $1,606.73 an ounce, continuing recent declines from record highs. Copper, which has already fallen, was down another 4%. Senior commodities analysts Edward Meir, at brokers MF Global, said: "These are very critical days and weeks ahead, reminiscent very much of the touch-and-go situation we were in back in 2008. "The key difference this time around is that it is countries and not companies that are in danger of going bust."