Bank shares in Europe rebounded strongly on Monday as investors reacted to the latest attempts to stabilise the eurozone debt crisis.
French and German bank shares were up 10% at one stage.
BNP Paribas and Societe Generale were up 4% and 5.4% respectively. Credit Agricole was up 3.7%.
Allianz was up 10%, Deutsche Bank 8% and Commerzbank 7.7%. In Britain, Barclays rose 6.8% and RBS by 3.3%.
However, commodity prices were lower.
The BBC's business editor says it's believed a plan being drawn up by the International Monetary Fund would allow Greece to write down half of its debts.
Under this proposal, the size of the European Union bailout fund would be increased to two trillion euros ($US2.7 trillion).
But Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos says a writedown has not been discussed with him.
