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London shares close higher as oil price buoys stocks

Published: 17:43 09 Oct 2015 BST

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London shares closed over 41 points higher, with  mining stocks once again among the risers, as metals and the oil price gained ground.

FTSE100 closed out Friday 41.34 points higher, at 6,416 with Anglo American (LON:AAL) taking the podium, up 7.23% to 726.5p.

Also higher was mining and trading titan Glencore (LON:GLEN), which finished 7% to the good at 129.10p as it continues to dig itself out of the share pit.

It came after the mining giant cut zinc output by a third and zinc prices immediately responded by rising 8%.

Glencore also said it will scale back its operations in Australia, South America and Kazakhstan.

Oil prices surged today amid rising geopolitical tensions and a decline in output.

Joshua Mahony, at IG index, said: "The spike in oil prices clearly has been having a positive effect, with mining stocks rising once more to send the FTSE 100 towards a third consecutive day in the green.

"Worries over market instability (read exchange rate strength and market decline), disinflation and Chinese instability continue to dominate fears in the Western world and are likely to for the foreseeable future.

Elsewhere, another strong gainer today was Standard Chartered (LON:STAN), which added over 5% to 786.7p as it emerged the troubled bank was planning to slash up to a quarter of its senior staff.

The move, reportedly outlined in a staff memo, could see the loss of 1,000 jobs over the next four months at the emerging- markets focused bank.

Standard has been hit by a double whammy of fears over a slowdown in emerging markets and the slide in commodity prices.

In smaller caps, issuing a profit warning just four months after a float is not a good start to a stock market life. But that's what Adgorithms (LON:ADGO) did today.

The share  sank over 60% as it warned earnings would be “materially below expectations following disruption in the online advertising market".

Adgorithms has an artificial intelligence based ad buying system named ‘Albert’ that can handle many more campaigns than us humans.

The problems relate to a “purge” by larger online ad exchanges designed to address concerns among ad buyers over the quality of placing and click-through.

Apple has also added to the problems with new ‘ad blocking’ features on new iPhone’s and iPads.

Shares were 49 today compared to  a float price of 133p

Troubled video ad tracking firm Blinkx (LON:BLNX) edged 0.89% higher to 28.25p as it confirmed its latest half year would be no worse than previously indicated.

Interim losses will be around US$7mln, with a possible return to profit in 6-12 months. Hedge fund Toscafund owns 24%.

Iodine producer Iofina (LON:IOF) surged 12.68% to 20p as it reported production, from the brine thrown off by onshore oil wells in the US, remains on track to hit this year's guidance.

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