Wednesday, 27 January: The FTSE 100 struggled in early trade before embarking on a rally from lunchtime into the close, closing up 1.33% . Banks and miners weighed heavily early on, but these worries slipped from investor minds as the day progressed. Likewise, oil struggled somewhat during the Asian trading session before bouncing above $32 for the second time in consecutive days late on in London trade.

Royal Bank of Scotland was one of the aforementioned banks putting pressure on the blue-chip index, as the group announced it will make a $4.2bn payment into its main pension scheme, before setting aside billions more in provisions for past misconduct charges and an impairment charge relating to its private bank. The group looks set to close 2.5% down, after reaching a three year low in intraday trade. Lloyds(-0.39%) and Barclays(-1.04%) also traded down on the back of this sentiment.

Sage Group soared higher(+7.14%) as it laid claim to organic revenue growth in the first quarter of its financial year, and prosperous growth in its recurring revenue stream. On a like-for-like and constant currency basis, its organic revenue grew 6.6% in the quarter to the end of December. This was driven by recurring revenue which experienced 10% organic growth in the quarter, aided by 36% growth in software subscription revenue.

Apple announced its results after the New York close last night, citing a number of factors for flat iPhone sales, for the first time in history. The most prominent and expected of which was the “softness” that was quoted in China, tying in with equity market sell-offs earlier in the month on Chinese worries. Investors were turned off, as ARM holdings, a UK-based iPhone chip manufacturer fell 2% on the news.

At the close European indices were up with the FTSE 100 +1.33%, the CAC 40 +0.25%, and the DAX 30 +0.58%.