London shares advanced on Thursday as results from heavy-hitters Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) and AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) cheered investors.
The FTSE 100 Index lifted 49.55 points to 6680 as Shell announced lower profits and 6,500 job cuts as part of a drive to adjust to lower oil prices.
Shares in the group, which is buying BG Group as part of a drive to focus more on gas, rose 77p to 1854p.
Shares in drug group AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) were 113.5p healthier at 4304.5p as second quarter revenue at constant exchange rates rose 2% but core operating profit fell 4%.
Shell and AstraZeneca were among scores of companies updating the market on what has popularly become known in the City as "Super Thursday".
This week is particularly busy because many companies whose half-years end in June prefer to report results before the August holiday season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was tipped to open lower ahead of US second quarter GDP numbers and jobless claim figures.
The Dow ended yesterday's session 121 points up at 17751 as the US Federal Reserve failed to change interest rates and gave few clues about the timing of a rise.
Michael Moran at Daiwa Capital Markets said the Fed's policy statement was largely unchanged from June, although the few adjustments it made were positive.
"The shifts were not so pronounced as to signal a rate hike in September, but they implied that lift-off is drawing near," he said.
Back in London, a European Commission survey showed a historically high level of consumer confidence despite a slowdown in July.
The study also showed that inflation expectations rose in July, which is supportive to the case for the Bank of England to soon raise interest rates.
But it was corporate results that dominated the headlines.
BT (LON:BT.A) drifted 4.95p to 468.55p as the telecoms group reported higher profits and latest customer numbers for its new mobile and TV businesses.
Connor Campbell at Spreadex said: "This disappointment could perhaps be attributed to the 2% drop in revenue seen by the media company, a decline that becomes more egregious when compared to the staggering growth shown by Sky in its fiscal full year results yesterday."
Centrica (LON:CNA) also weighed in with thousands of job cuts as its British Gas arm made profits of £528mln in the six months to June 30, up 99% on the same period a year ago. Shares fell 6.7p to 268.5p.
Jet engine maker Rolls-Royce (LON:RR.) gained 18p to 748.5p as it cheered investors with unchanged guidance for annual revenue and profit despite posting a 32% fall in underlying pre-tax profit to £439mln.
Defence group BAE Systems (LON:BA.) ticked up 4.1p to 473.7p on news of higher sales but a slight fall in underlying earnings.
Chief executive Ian King said: "BAE Systems is well positioned to benefit from a generally improving market environment."
Drinks group Diageo (LON:DGE) fell 18p to 1821.5p as it reported flat sales in 2015 prompted by declines in some of its markets.
Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) shed early gains to fall 2.3p to 350.9p after reporting a better-than-expected increase in second quarter profit.
The majority state-owned bank has been restructuring after being rescued in the financial crisis and taking hits for PPI mis-selling and other controversies.
Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets said the profit rise came "despite booking a £1.05bn restructuring charge (double that of Q1) and having to make another £459m provision for future wrist-slapping."
Electronics group Laird (LON:LRD) jumped 55p to 404.8p as it boosted revenue by 21% and underlying pre-tax profit by 36% to £26.9mln.
But business support services group Xchanging (LON:XCH) plunged by more than a fifth, or 28.75p, to 97.5p on news of a poor performance by its procurement arm.