FTSE ending week on front foot
The London markets looked to end the week on the front foot today buoyed by strong gains from oil stocks.
BP and Royal Dutch Shell were among the day’s biggest risers as the FTSE 100 Index moved 13.2 points higher to 6058.9 by mid-morning.
And the FTSE 250 Index made tentative progress towards the 10,000 mark helped by passenger figures from budget airline easyJet.
Defence giant BAE Systems grabbed the headlines in the top flight today as it confirmed weeks of speculation that it was in talks to sell its 20% stake in Airbus.
Talks are underway with Franco-German firm EADS over a possible £3bn (€4.3bn) sale which analysts said would make sense because the commercial plane market is close to peaking and it would free up funds that BAE could use to expand its operations in the United States.
However, investors used the announcement to bank profits after a strong run by BAE recently, with its shares off 1.25p at 429.75p this morning.
There was a stronger performance by oil stocks as the price of crude reached 68 US dollars per barrel for the first time in more than two months, before easing slightly.
BP was up 13.5p to 686p while Royal Dutch Shell ticked 36p higher to 1954 and smaller rival BG Group rose 4p to 740.5p.
But they were beaten to the top of the blue chip risers board by ICI – up 3% or 10.5p to 371.25p – as rumours persisted that it may be the subject of a takeover bid.
Mining stocks gave back some of their recent strength despite copper approaching a record 6,000 US dollars a tonne. Kazakhmys slipped 19.5p to 1249.5p and Xstrata was 29p lower at 1999p.
Elsewhere, easyJet shares lifted 2% or 6.75p to 338.75p after it reported a 7% hike in passenger numbers in March despite being hit by a later Easter than last year.
