LONDON - Britain's top share index ticked higher on Tuesday, consolidating two sessions of strong gains made on hopes for fresh stimulus measures after surprise action to tackle the euro zone debt crisis from an EU summit last week.

Barclays, however, bucked the trend, falling 2.0 per cent after its Chief Executive Bob Diamond quit with immediate effect on Tuesday over an interest rate-rigging scandal, becoming the highest-profile victim so far in a probe that spans a dozen major banks across the world.

Britain's third-largest bank said that outgoing chairman Marcus Agius - who himself announced his own departure on Monday - would lead the search for a new executive.

At 0805 GMT (4:00 pm local time), the FTSE 100 index was up 4.41 points, or 0.1 per cent at 5,645.05, having jumped 1.3 per cent on Monday.