Soaring oil prices fuel London markets

Soaring oil prices fuelled industrial megacaps this morning, pulling London markets away from yesterday’s losses.

The capital’s premier index added 0.60 per cent to reach 7,052.75 points during the first couple hours of trading today.

The likes of Shell and BP were boosted this morning by oil prices reaching a seven-year high, climbing above $80 a barrel.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “OPEC’s decision not to lift production volumes gave oil prices a lift into Tuesday, helping the FTSE 100 to solid gains as index heavyweights BP and Shell gushed higher.”

“This followed a tech-led sell-off in the US overnight as investors turned away from the likes of Apple, Amazon and, perhaps most notably, Facebook which had a pretty terrible day on Monday.

High street bellwether and sausage roll maker Greggs was one of the shining lights on London markets this morning after it hiked revenue expectations for the year to £1.2bn.

The firm has expanded its footprint across the UK, but is eying up spreading its wings further, and investors are eating it up.

​​”Sometimes you have to take risks in business to get ahead and Greggs has looked at a somewhat hollowed out central London and spied a big opportunity, with plans to take advantage of depressed property costs by expanding its footprint in the capital,” Mould added.

The company’s share price climbed 5.71 per cent during the morning session.

Banks helped London’s senior FTSE 100 index lurch into positive territory, with the likes of Lloyds, Standard Charter and NatWest all up more than 1.40 per cent, likely on expectations rate hikes could be coming down the lines.

Financials tend to benefit from higher interest rates as it widens their net interest margin, a key source of income for banks.

London’s good performance extended into European markets – Germany’s Dax 30 and the pan-European Stoxx 600 were both up 0.40 per cent and 0.63 per cent respectively.

The pound was broadly flat against the dollar today.