Marmite peace settlement sends Tesco to the top of the FTSE 100
Good news about the black stuff has sent the FTSE 100 climbing higher in this morning's trading.
Or, to be more precise, good news about the black stuffs.
Because while the price of a barrel of Brent Crude oil rose 0.8 per cent to $52.42 this morning, and metals also headed north – good news for London's mining-heavy stock market – it was a slightly-more-yeasty, slightly-less-polluting black product which whetted the appetite of traders.
Fresh from settling their high-profile 24-hour war over the price of Marmite, Tesco has surged to the top of the leaderboard this morning, wiping out yesterday's losses and adding a few more pennies onto its share price for good measure. The UK's largest supermarket was up 3.6 per cent at 202p by mid-morning.
It wasn't such good news for Marmite-makers Unilever who dropped 0.5 per cent again this morning to 3,580p.
The bluechip index as a whole was up by 0.7 per cent, back above the 7,000 mark at 7,028. Burberry, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were all big climbers.
Despite today's gains, the overall sentiment on trading floors is one of confusion, IG's Joshua Mahony said. "There is a feeling that everything is up in the air at the moment, with some calling a market top upon any hint of selling, while others expect new all-time highs any day now."
Sterling also had a nervy start to the day, falling against both the euro and the dollar before recovering losses. With both Mark Carney and Janet Yellen speaking today, expect a bumpy end to the week.
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