By Kit Rees and Sudip Kar-Gupta
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top shares index closed on Tuesday at its highest level in 14 months, lifted by gains in major financial stocks, including Standard Life (L:SL).
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (FTSE) ended at 6,851.30 points, up 0.6 percent, above a high last reached in June 2015. The FTSE 100 is up nearly 10 percent so far in 2016.
The FTSE 100 slumped in the immediate aftermath of Britain's vote on June 23 to quit the European Union, and although it has since recouped all those losses, the fall in sterling means the value of British shares is still affected in U.S. dollar terms.
Britain's leading banking index (FTNMX8350) advanced on Tuesday to recover, in sterling terms, all of its post-referendum losses, and posted its fifth straight session of gains.
Insurer Standard Life (L:SL) rose 6.8 percent and hit its highest level since the Brexit vote after reporting an increase in assets under management. Shares in rival Legal & General (L:LGEN) fell 5.6 percent on disappointing profits at L&G's investment management and general insurance businesses.
The relative resilience of heavyweight financial stocks such as insurance firms in the wake of the Brexit vote have been a key driver behind the FTSE 100's recent rally, said Lewis Jones, stockbroker at Cornhill Capital.
"Most of the insurers have outperformed, enabling the FTSE to continue to push higher," said Jones.
Shares in WorldPay, which provides platforms for merchants to accept payments by cards and other methods, climbed 2.5 percent after its interim earnings beat forecasts.
The Bank of England's move last week to cut interest rates to record lows gave a further lift to British stocks and Markus Huber, trader at City of London Markets Limited, said overall sentiment remained positive.