Wednesday 10 February 2016 4:53 pm

FTSE 100 index closes higher as bank shares rise and Janet Yellen’s remarks calm markets despite the continued fall of miners

The FTSE 100 index closed higher today as banks recouped some of the losses they made yesterday and US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen calmed markets.

The index closed 0.71 per cent higher at 5,672.3 points.

"Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony was always going to be aimed at provoking the least reaction possible in her testimony to the House Financial Services Committee but stranger things have happened at sea," said Jasper Lawler, an analyst at CMC Markets. "Markets did initially dip when the prepared comments were released and indicated no obviously dovish shift in policy, but the measured remarks allowed a recovery in the lead up to the live testimony."

Banking stocks managed to claw back some of the losses they made yesterday during today's session. Barclays closed 1.76 per cent higher at 159p per share, while Lloyds rose 0.46 per cent to 58.4p per share.

HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland closed 2.06 per cent higher at 441.4p per share and 3.28 per cent up at 233p per share.

"The rebound in Deutsche Bank is helping to reassure some investors who had been concerned about possible contagion in the banking sector," said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based Prime Partners.

But miners were largely down, again. Antofagasta traded 3.04 per cent lower to 398.4p per share, while Anglo American's share price fell 2.04 per cent to 327p per share.

BHP Billiton slid 1.85 per cent to 653.8p per share and Glencore dropped one per cent to 93.5p per share.

And Arm Holdings was down 4.36 per cent at 899p per share, despite reporting rise in turnover and profits.