London close: Footsie at five-month high as Greek concerns ease, oil stocks surge

Strong gains in the oil sector pushed UK stocks to their highest in five months on Tuesday, helped by an easing of concerns about Greece.

The FTSE 100 finished 1.3% higher at 6,872, its best close since 4 September when it settled at 6,878.

The new government in Greece has proposed swapping its outstanding debt for new growth-linked bonds, backing down from earlier calls for a complete write-off of its debt. Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis labelled it “smart debt engineering”.

While the plan was reportedly rebuffed by the European Central Bank, the proposals were welcomed by markets worldwide, with Athens’ own stock exchange in particular soaring over 11%.

“For the first time it looks as if the new Greek government is reacting, rather than driving events. A switch to a more conciliatory tone on the part of the finance minister and the prime minister has raised hopes that a deal may be possible,” said analyst Chris Beauchamp from IG.

Economic data came in mixed on Tuesday, with UK construction activity growth unexpectedly picking up in January and US factory-goods orders falling more than expected in December.

Investors were also focusing on comments from James Bullard, the president of the St Louis Federal Reserve, who said that the central bank should strip the “patient” language out of its next policy meeting in March.

BP impresses after Q4 results

Oil major BP ended the session nearly 3% higher after beating estimates with its fourth-quarter results. Underlying profits dropped 20% to $2.2bn on the back of weak oil prices, but not as much as the 40% plunge predicted by analysts.

BP also announced that it had cut its capital expenditure budget by $4bn-6bn this year to $20bn, pushing oil prices higher on Tuesday. Brent rose 2.4% to $56.05 a barrel, further boosted by an ongoing US refinery strike.

Sector peers Shell, Tullow, Premier Oil and Soco International all finished with decent gains, along with Afren as concerns about funding for the Africa-focused explorer eased.

Mining stocks also performed well, such as blue chips Glencore, Antofagasta and BHP Billiton, though Fresnillo and Randgold fell into the red as gold prices eased.

Aberdeen Asset Management declined after registering net outflows in the three months to end-December due to a weakening of investor sentiment towards emerging markets in December. Assets under management fell to £323.3bn from £324.4bn over its first quarter.

Online food retailer Ocado jumped after making its first-ever annual profit despite “intense competition” in the grocery industry.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,062.32 +0.65%
FTSE 100 6,871.80 +1.32%
FTSE 250 16,570.30 +1.31%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,429.00p +6.54%
Glencore (GLEN) 269.35p +6.42%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,830.00p +5.54%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,180.00p +5.36%
Barclays (BARC) 248.45p +5.34%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 706.00p +5.06%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,558.50p +5.02%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,045.00p +4.87%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 417.40p +4.61%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,268.50p +4.52%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 425.00p -3.43%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,085.00p -1.44%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,574.00p -1.42%
Diageo (DGE) 1,926.00p -1.23%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,145.00p -1.21%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 3,079.00p -1.12%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,535.00p -1.07%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,239.00p -0.98%
Next (NXT) 7,095.00p -0.98%
Kingfisher (KGF) 332.00p -0.93%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Afren (AFR) 11.84p +18.40%
Hunting (HTG) 478.70p +14.41%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 451.20p +13.97%
Premier Oil (PMO) 171.00p +8.99%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,443.00p +7.77%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 220.00p +7.37%
RPS Group (RPS) 207.80p +7.28%
Soco International (SIA) 297.60p +7.01%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 124.00p +6.80%
Computacenter (CCC) 673.00p +6.74%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,030.00p -3.38%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 65.75p -2.66%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,453.00p -2.04%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 151.50p -1.94%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 282.10p -1.43%
Northgate (NTG) 590.00p -1.42%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 665.00p -1.34%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,651.00p -1.27%
Just Eat (JE.) 349.70p -1.21%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 289.90p -1.19%