Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa hit Britain's top shares again on Thursday, though rising crude prices and upbeat comment from oil major BP on its Indian activities lifted energy stocks.
The FTSE 100 closed down 3.55 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,919.98, pinned just below a seven-month technical support level of 5,920.
U.S. crude oil futures rallied for a third session on Thursday as prices soared to their highest since late August 2008 as escalating violence in Libya sparked supply worries. Tullow Oil added 3 percent.
BP's Indian head, Sashi Mukundan, estimated there were 15 trillion cubic feet of gas resources in the 23 blocks it has bought into in its $7.2 billion deal with Reliance Industries, and there could be more.
BP gained 0.9 percent on the news, which also helped spark a 2.4 percent rally in oil explorer Cairn Energy.
Cairn Energy, which has blocks in India, is currently trying to sell a majority stake in its Indian arm Cairn India to Vedanta Resources.
However, weakness from risk-sensitive banks helped keep the index in the red for a fifth session.
It is down 2.7 percent so far this week, on track for its biggest weekly drop in nearly eight months as the price of oil has hit multi-year highs, threatening to derail the global economic recovery.
"Oil is the lubricant of economic expansion, and its rising price acts as a tax on global growth, which is making investors risk averse and encouraging them to book profits," said Henk Potts, strategist at Barclays Wealth.
The FTSE volatility index, which measures investor appetite for risk, is up 35 percent this week.
BANKS SAG
Banks were the most significant drag on the index, as investors looked uneasily at the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.
RBS came off worst, down 3.6 percent, as its results met with disappointment.
Bad debts from Ireland, an uninspiring investment banking performance and lack of dividend put pressure on the shares, traders said.
British American Tobacco fell 0.7 percent, after the maker of Kent, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes reported full-year results.
"(The numbers) all looked in line, the dividend was slightly better than expected, and (it announced) a 750 million pound buyback, but the market expected 1 billion, so that was a little disappointing," said Alwyn Phillips, a trader at IG Index.
GKN shed 2.3 percent after Citigroup cut its rating for the automotive and aerospace parts group to "hold" from "buy" ahead of upcoming full-year results.
"We sense a pause in the pace of its recent rapid profit rise," Citigroup says in a note.
No comments:
Post a Comment