A rebound by oil stocks helped Britain's blue-chip index recover from a global sell-off prompted by a political crisis in Italy and fresh fears of a trade war between the US and China. The UK's FTSE 100 ended up 0.75 percent on Wednesday after ending the previous session at its lowest level in nearly three weeks.
"The FTSE 100 is in recovery mode, clawing back some of yesterday's losses on the combined support of a slightly stronger (dollar) ... and oil prices retreating from week's lows," said Accendo Markets analyst Artjom Hatsaturjants. Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell both rose more than 2 percent as oil prices climbed to $76 a barrel, supported by tight supplies despite expectations Opec and its allies will pump more in the second half of 2018.
Among smaller companies, engineering firm Bodycote rose nearly 7 percent after predicting it would top market expectations for full-year profit and said it would pay a special dividend. Discount retailer B&M European Value reported a 25 percent jump in full-year profit, sending its shares up 4.5 percent. Photo-Me International tumbled 26 percent after the photobooth operator's market update disappointed investors.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.