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London markets kick off week in positive style on Shell UK commitment

Shell is shedding 9,000 of its workers and the oil major said only 1,500 of the job cuts will be through voluntary redundancy

London markets kicked off the new week in positive fashion today, boosted by oil mega cap Royal Dutch Shell.

The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index gained 0.14 per cent to hit 7,358.35 points, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 advanced 0.25 per cent to 23,625.56 points.

The City was buttered up by oil giant Royal Dutch Shell announcing this morning it will move its main residence to the UK from the Netherlands. It will also end a long period of splitting its business and shares between Britain and the Netherlands.

The news lifted both tranches of the company’s shares listed in London. Its A and B shares rose 2.36 per cent and 1.94 per cent respectively, providing a bump for the City’s markets.

Shell represents an enormous share of the FTSE 100, meaning movements in its share price exert a large influence over the premier index’s performance.

Cambridge-based cybersecurity firm Darktrace made moves to cancel some of the losses it has registered in recent weeks, climbing 1.55 per cent.

Meanwhile, on the mid-cap index, City press favourite and broker CMC Markets was one of the stand out performers, shooting up over 10 per cent.

Cinema chain Cineworld was the best performer on the FTSE 250 after it posted a bumper crop of results this morning that got investors purring. Its shares rose more than 12 per cent.

The pound was flat against the dollar at $1.3415.