London’s blue-chip stocks remained on the front foot throughout the Friday morning session.
The FTSE100 was up a further 133 points, or 2.3%, to 5,906 with oil stocks rising to the top.
It means the index is on course for its first weekly gain of the new year, as it follows on from Asian stocks, which rose after a hint of more monetary easing by the European Central Bank and a bounce in crude oil from 12-year lows helped to ease some investor concern.
Connor Campbell at spread betting firm Spreadex said: “Oil is finally showing some signs of stability, with some even believing that we’ve reached the bottom.
“The CEO of Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) was adamant that the only way for the commodity was up and other commodity analysts revised their predictions upward.”
A barrel of Brent crude was more than 6% higher to US$31.16 while the West Texas Intermediate price rose 5% to US$31.14.
Shell (LON:RDSB) gushed 5.6% to 1,393p, while rival BP (LON:BP.) ticked up 3.4% to 354p. BG Group (LON:BG.), which is merging with Shell, rose 5.1% to 980p.
It wasn’t all good news, however, as education publisher Pearson (LON:PSON) dropped.
On Thursday the firm warned on profit but maintained its dividend and announced 4,000 job cuts.
Shares jumped but some profit taking saw them slip back 3.5% to 745p.
Away from the index, Petroceltic’s (LON:PCI) major shareholder Worldview Capital is mulling a full take over approach for the oil and gas producer.
In a statement today, the fund management group said while there was no certainty it would make an offer if it did it would be all cash. Shares soared 74% to 20p.
Also higher was Mobile Streams (LON:MOS), which is pushing ahead with its move away from Argentina after annual revenues were again affected by the slide in the value of the peso.
The new government relaxed currency controls soon after coming to power last year. Shares in the firm rocketed 57% to 8p.
Conversely, the big loser of the day was Pinnacle Technology (LON:PINN) as it failed to impress investors with its full-year results despite losses narrowing slightly.
Sales were lower due to a 25% fall in revenue from its IT Security segment, previously reported acts of "wilful misconduct" and a 14% fall in its traditional telecommunications services revenue, and the company has decided to shift its strategy, buying up two IT services firms.
It plans to acquire Ancar-B for £3.5mln and Weston Communications for £1.5mln. This will require a share placing however, and shares dropped around 26% to 9p.
LONDON OPEN
The UK’s main market carried on from yesterday’s gains as it made its way higher again this morning.
On Thursday, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi got on his steed and rode to the rescue of global equity markets today.
Bernard Aw at spreadbetting firm IG said: “It took fresh hopes of more ECB stimulus and a sharp recovery in oil prices to coax some risk appetite out from global investors.”
Draghi, who once calmed markets with a vow to do “whatever it takes”, signalled that the ECB has plenty of ammo to fire at the markets, though probably not until after the central bank's March meeting.
The FTSE100 rallied on the news, and continued to rise throughout the Friday morning session, up more than 111 points, or 1.9% to 5,884.
Miners found their way to the top of the index as stocks in Asia rallied overnight.
Leading the charge was Japan’s Nikkei, which gained more than 5%, while China’s Shanghai Composite was also higher, around 1.3%, to 2,917.
Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) was the index’s biggest riser, up 7% to 391p, while BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) was also higher.
Oil stocks also performed well, as the price of a barrel of Brent crude shot up more than 5% to US$30.97.
Shell (LON:RDSB) gushed 4.9% to 1,380, while rival BP (LON:BP.) ticked up 3.3% to 353p.
Away from the index, there were some big gainers in the small cap space, where Mobile Streams (LON:MOS) is pushing ahead with its move away from Argentina after annual revenues were again affected by the slide in the value of the peso.
The new government relaxed currency controls soon after coming to power last year. Shares in the firm rocketed 52% to 8p.
Also higher was Condor Gold’s (LON:CNR) after new pit designs at its La India gold project in Nicaragua boosted its potential value by more than 50%.
The study, by renowned mine design consulting group Whittle, was completed last year but the results were unable to be released due to Condor’s strategic review and sale plans. Shares rose 20% to 24p.
Conversely, the big loser of the day was Pinnacle Technology (LON:PINN) as it failed to impress investors with its full-year results despite losses narrowing slightly.
Sales were lower due to a 25% fall in revenue from its IT Security segment, previously reported acts of "wilful misconduct" and a 14% fall in its traditional telecommunications services revenue, and the company has decided to shift its strategy, buying up two IT services firms.
It plans to acquire Ancar-B for £3.5mln and Weston Communications for £1.5mln. This will require a share placing however, and shares dropped around 30% to 8.8p.