Shares in Lloyds Banking Group and RBS were up on the FTSE 100 following yesterday's emergency budget, announced by the Chancellor of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, George Osborne.

Mr Osborne announced the introduction of a levy on banks that would also be supported by similar levies imposed by France and Germany.

Proponents of the idea of a banking levy argue that such a charge could help banks to pay back the cost of the large bailouts they received during the financial crisis.

News of the levy provided a boost to the share price of part-nationalised banks Lloyds Banking Group and RBS.

By 10:27 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were up 2.84 per cent to 60.38 pence per share and RBS shares increased 0.90 per cent to 47.51 pence per share.

Meanwhile Barclays shares declined 1.73 per cent to 306.10 pence per share and HSBC shares fell 0.33 per cent to 657.00 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 dropped 0.61 per cent to 5,214.81.

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