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FTSE100 continues north as oil stocks lifted

Last updated: 12:24 02 Dec 2014 GMT, First published: 13:24 02 Dec 2014 GMT

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Britain's blue chips were continuing north at the midday point with oil stocks doing well as the price of crude firms.

West Texas intermediate rose yesterday to US$69 a barrel- the biggest  jump in a day since summer 2012,  while Brent crude recovered to US$72 a barrel overnight after reaching a new five year low yesterday 

Also buoying sentiment was hopes over stimulus measures in Europe and China.

Hopes in the People's Republic surround the idea the Central bank will ease monetary policy further after a surprise interest-rate cut last month. 

On FTSE100 the biggest gainer was Tullow (LON:TLW), which added 6.17%. BP (LON:BP.) was up 2.3% and Shell (LON:RSDB) added 2.26%.

Miners were also back in vogue after a huge overnight leap in gold prices.

The precious metal is now back below US$1200 after the rally but shares in Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) held up adding 14p to 4280p.

UK insurance giant Aviva has agreed to acquire rival Friends Life in an all-share deal worth about about US$8.8bn to create Britain’s largest life insurer. Aviva (LON:AV.) shares rose 0.92%, while Friends Life (LON:FLG) added 3.19%.

The £5.6bn deal in sterling still needs shareholder approval.

On the other side of the coin, Royal Mail (LON:RMG) was the biggest loser with shares down 2.68% as regulator Ofcom has ruled the firm’s remit to deliver a universal postal service is not under threat.

The postal group, taken private last year, had complained its competitors were undercutting it by picking more lucrative delivery areas.

Ofcom is to open a broader investigation into Royal Mail’s ability to deliver its universal service, however.

In the junior space, airline Fastjet (LON:FJET)  was up 6.45% as it revealed it was already seeing a substantial benefit from the slide in oil prices.

The Africa-focused low-cost carrier does not pre-purchase or 'hedge' its future fuel price but pays current market rates.

Fastjet’s fleet comprises mostly modern Airbus 319 aircraft, but fuel still represents 40% of direct operating costs. 

“As such, the fall in the price of oil delivers a large direct cash benefit to the airline,” it said.

SolGold (LON:SOLG) shares shot up 15% after it said it was “delighted” by the initial grades returned from the latest drill hole on the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry project in Ecuador.

Also today, Range Resources (LON:RRL) added over 16% after the shares came back from suspension.  

Four board members including chief executive Rory Scott Russell were not re-elected at the AGM on Friday, but two representatives of main shareholder Abraham have now joined the board.

Other gainers included China Non-Ferrous (LON:CNG), which was up 6.42% and Hummingbird Resources (LON:HUM), which added 1.41%. Edge Resources (LON:EDG) added 7.52%.


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