Eurozone banks lead gains - FT.com Eurozone banks continued their buoyant start to 2012, with another strong opening to the trading session on Friday as sector sentiment surrounding their funding levels improves. UniCredit continued its recovery, rallying for the fourth session running, as it gained 3.2 per cent to €3. The Italian lender fell by more than 60 per cent after it announced a larger than expected discount on its €7.5bn rights issue last week. One figure involved in the rights issue blamed the slump on the three-day gap between the discount being announced and the rights starting to trade. In rights issues, the first people who decide to do anything are the people who decide they are not going to [take part]. That accounts for the downward pressure," said one underwriter. What we saw was that downward pressure put on immediately. Normally, that's because people announce the terms and then rights start trading the next day. But with UniCredit we had a three-day gap, which created a lot of pressure. A solid Italian bond auction helped the FTSE MIB gain 0.4 per cent to 15,245.07. Mediobanca, one of the lead underwriters on the UniCredit rights issue, jumped 5 per cent to €4.50. In Frankfurt the Xetra Dax ticked up 0.6 per per cent to to 6,215.26, with Commerzbank again leading the index. The German bank rose 4.4 per cent to 1.43, its highest price since the start of December. The CAC 40 also edged up by 1.1 per cent to 3,238.59. BNP Paribas was the leading stock on France's blue chip index, as it rose 4.8 per cent to €32.50. Elsewhere, Hermes gained 4.3 per cent to €252.75. The French luxury goods maker has gained almost 20 per cent since the middle of December as luxury goods makers prove more resilient than their retail peers. Paris-listed satellite operator Eutelsat sank by 4 per cent to €28.57 after Spanish toll road operator Abertis sold roughly half its stake in the French company. Abertis rose 1.9 per cent to €13.12 following the announcement, outperforming the Ibex 35, which ticked up 1.1 per cent to 8,518.0. Overall the FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.5 per cent to 1,024.18.