No major move on FTSE
London shares were hovering around their opening mark today after oil prices resumed their upward trend.
The FTSE 100 Index added 3.4 points to 4734.5 by mid-morning after the futures price of a barrel of US light crude moved back towards $46.
American shares made modest gains last night after the oil price eased, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average putting on 11 points to 10661.
The oil majors were making progress on the news, with BP adding 1% or 5.5p to 508p and Shell lifting 2.75p to 434p.
After slipping 5% yesterday in the wake of price target cuts by brokers, another top-flight oil group, Cairn Energy, regained some lost ground, standing 10p ahead at 1060p.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors produced downbeat economic news in the form of a survey showing that house prices in the UK fell further last month as interest rate hikes took their toll.
Despite the more subdued market, York-based housebuilder Persimmon said it expected to meet City forecasts for profits in the region of £467.1m (€674.8m) in the current year, compared with £352.5m (€509.2m) in 2003. The shares lifted nearly 3% or 19.5p to 698p.
Meanwhile, Aim-listed coffee bar chain Coffee Republic lost hold of earlier gains to slip more than 2% or 0.02p to 0.86p after posting narrower first-half losses.
Publishing house Bloomsbury lifted 7.5% or 20.5p to 294p after announcing that it had taken delivery from author JK Rowling of the completed Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in the Harry Potter series.
In the FTSE 250, Anglian Water’s shares moved 0.5p ahead to 823p after it became the latest firm to back regulator Ofwat’s recommendations on water bills and investment over the next five years.
But engineering group Cobham lost 5p to 1243p despite unveiling a $260m (€194m) deal to buy a manufacturer of communications equipment for the military.
