Banks help FTSE 100 back over 5,900 The FTSE 100 crossed back over 5,900 points and reached its highest level since early August on Wednesday, helped by a rally in the banking sector and some well-received corporate earnings. But the index's repeated attempts to head back toward the 6,000 point level - last seen in July - remain vulnerable to the stubborn prospect of an unruly March debt default in Greece. Athens will be unable to meet a €14.5bn payment due then without securing the €130bn due under the terms of a second international bail-out, funds which will not be paid without the passage of unpopular austerity measures. In the meantime, the chances of some more progress on London's benchmark looked good, although analysts also remained cautious. "The longer-term charts show there is not much resistance until [a reading on the FTSE 100 of] 5,951.30 indicating the market is set up for a potential acceleration to the upside," said James A. Hyerczyk, analyst at Autochartist. The fact that the market stalled shortly after taking out the recent top at 5,901.10 leads me to believe that there was not a lot of new money in on the move. This usually means a near-term correction may be necessary to draw in new blood. Reckitt Benckiser was the best single riser, up 3 per cent at £34.84, after it reported a 12 per cent rise in annual operating profit. The Anglo-Dutch consumer products maker also upped its dividend 8 per cent to 70p a share, taking its total pay-out for the year to 125p, up 9 per cent. Much of the rest of the leaderboard was taken up by banks as traders continued to bet on a successful resolution to the Athens austerity stand-off. Barclays was the sector's best single riser, up 1.8 per cent to 241.1p. Lloyds Banking Group was 1.2 per cent higher at 35.7p. As risk appetite improved on global markets, London's heavily-weighted resource sector joined the rally. Xstrata, the miner in the process of merging with commodities trading house Glencore, rose 1.7 per cent to £12.20. Glencore was 1.1 per cent stronger at 448p. BHP Billiton bucked the trend after its interim results showed a 7 per cent fall in profits, in line with expectations. Its shares were flat at £21.79. International Power was the biggest single faller, down 3.9 per cent at 329.4p after it said reaching its 2013 profit target could be difficult due to falling energy prices in Brazil.