Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading, despite ratings agency Standard & Poor's cutting Greece's credit rating to the lowest in the world.

S&P gave Greece a CCC rating, making the debt struck nation the only country to have the lowest possible rating.

Despite this banking shares were up as they continued a rally which began yesterday after a week of sell offs, a Greek default seemingly already factored into the market.

By 09:30 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were up 1.18 per cent to 48.20 pence per share, RBS shares rose 2.10 per cent to 41.42 pence per share, Barclays shares climbed 1.71 per cent to 264.80 pence per share and HSBC shares increased 0.54 per cent to 619.50 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was up 0.53 per cent to 5,803.80.

Barclays HSBC FTSE