FTSE up as BP offset rate nerves
The top share index was 0.5 percent higher early on Thursday, with nervousness on the economy ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate verdict offset by gains from Unilever and BP.
FTSE gains as metals spur minersAt 9:07a.m., the FTSE 100 was up 27.3 points at 5,527.0, rallying after Wednesday's 121 points slide.
David Buik of Cantor Index said the FTSE 100 opening advance was a "nice surprise" albeit driven by just the two stories for BP and Unilever.
"But otherwise the market overall remains fairly neutral" Buik said, "with oil stocks pausing for breath as crude prices await the next news on Hurricane's Hanna and Ike".
Buik added the London market is in a "thoroughly nervous arena at the moment, with a high degree of uncertainty and traders only able to will it along at present ahead of the UK rate decision and Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls."
Unilever added 6 percent after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group named Paul Polman, outgoing head of the Americas at Swiss food group Nestle SA, as its new chief executive to replace Patrick Cescau.
BP gained 2 percent as the oil major is close to a deal with its Russian oligarch co-owners of TNK-BP that would see board changes at the Russian company, an industry source said.
One commentator said "this not just a BP-TNK spat, it could be the start of a recovery in the UK's current dreadful relationship with Russia."
Oil prices meanwhile, were little changed near $109 a barrel as traders weighed concerns over slowing demand from major consumer countries against further hurricane threats to the U.S. oil sector.
Other oil majors ticked higher as crude paused for breath, with BG Group up 1.4 percent, rallying after Wednesday's sharp fall, and Tullow Oil ahead 0.6 percent.
|
|
