Admiral, RSA, Direct Line driven north by premiums news and bargain hunters

Car insurers Admiral Group, RSA and Direct Line steered to the top of the blue chip leader board on Tuesday, sparked by a 5% rise in car insurance premiums in the second quarter.

As well as the boost from insurance premiums announced by AA, Admiral was further lifted by bargain hunting, according to traders, after a 16% drop in the share price since mid-April in its shares. The FTSE 100-listed group surged 4.5% to 1,518p by Tuesday afternoon to lead the pack.

It also emerged that Admiral, which also owns the confused.com comparison website, has taken on an extra 280 people in its Newport, Cardiff and Swansea offices.

Technical analyst Brenda Kelly at London Capital Group said that "a drive through the 1,500p marker was needed to get the shares back on course but with the majority looking for a decline to 1407p, this may be a short-lived bounce".