LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Finishes Higher, Powered By Energy Stocks
12 Dezember 2017 - 08:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee and Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch
Oil producer shares rise on pipeline leak, but supermarkets
largely pull back
U.K. blue-chip stocks finished with gains Tuesday, as shares in
energy-related companies rallied. However, some supermarket shares
were dragged down by new industry sales figures.
How markets are moving: The FTSE 100 index rose 0.6% to end at
7,500.41, building on Monday's rise of 0.8%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-leads-the-way-in-europe-driven-higher-by-softer-pound-2017-12-11).
The London benchmark finished at its highest level since Nov. 8,
according to FactSet data. It's showing a 5% gain for the year.
The pound bought $1.3324, down from $1.3339 on late Monday in
New York.
What's moving markets: Shares of oil producers rose as West
Texas Intermediate crude and Brent futures initially extended the
gains logged on Monday, after owners of North Sea oil pipeline, The
Forties, announced a shut down for weeks to repair a leak.
While the outage is a significant supply disruption -- the
pipeline carries supplies from more than 80 major fields -- it has
a wider impact in that the Forties's flows feed into a key price
benchmark for global oil.
On Tuesday, February Brent crude jumped more than 1%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/brent-oil-rises-to-fresh-212-year-high-as-north-sea-pipeline-outage-reverberates-2017-12-12)
to trade around its highest level since mid-2015. The contract
later turned negative, but energy stocks remained in the green.
Shares of BP PLC (BP.LN) (BP.LN) climbed 2.5%, and Royal Dutch
Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) (RDSB.LN) was up 1.5%.
What strategists are saying: "The FTSE 100 is higher as energy
stocks are receiving a boost from the upturn in the oil market on
account of the Forties North Sea pipeline being closed for
maintenance," said David Madden, a CMC Markets UK analyst, in a
note.
"Brent crude oil hit a level not seen since early June 2015, and
that has pushed up the price of Royal Dutch Shell and BP."
Inflation data: U.K. inflation has hit its highest level since
March 2012, boosted by higher air fares, the Office for National
Statistics reported. The consumer-price index grew 3.1% in the 12
months to November. Analysts had expected the CPI to hold at 3%,
according to a FactSet survey.
"Sterling rallied on the back of the figures, but the positive
move was short lived," CMC's Madden said.
The inflation reading is more than a full percentage point above
the Bank of England's target. The U.K. central bank will release
its next policy decision on Thursday, but no changes are expected.
Policy makers led by Mark Carney in November raised the benchmark
interest rate for the first time in a decade, by a quarter
percentage point to 0.5%.
Supermarket sweep: Kantar Worldpanel said Tuesday that sales for
the top four U.K. grocers grew in the 12 weeks ended December, but
each lost market share
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/top-4-uk-supermarkets-lift-sales-but-lose-share-2017-12-12).
Wm Morrison Supermarkets (MRW.LN) fell 4.5% and J Sainsbury
(SBRY.LN) was down 4.1% while rival Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN) was up
0.1%.
Other stock movers: Ashtead PLC (AHT.LN) tacked on 2% as the
equipment-rental company said it would start a share buyback
program of up to GBP1 billion
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ashtead-to-buy-back-up-to-1-billion-in-shares-2017-12-12)
($1.33 billion) and that fiscal 2018 results should come in above
expectations.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2017 14:16 ET (19:16 GMT)
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