Shares in British banks were mixed on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as some encouraging signs about the state of the global economy vied in the minds of investors with Japanese and European worries.

On Friday the U.S. published good figures for jobs for the month of February, helping to encourage investors that the global economy is on the up.

However shares were hampered by fears that the eurozone sovereign debt crisis may be about to re-ignite in the Iberian Peninsular and by the ongoing drag caused by the disaster in Japan.

By 09:40 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were down 0.03 per cent to 60.98 pence per share, RBS shares fell 0.54 per cent to 42.11 pence per share and HSBC shares declined 0.78 per cent to 650.00 pence per share.

However Barclays shares were up 0.07 per cent to 289.65 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was up 0.16 per cent to 6,019.49.

Barclays HSBC FTSE Japan