London midday: Stocks gain before Fed's meeting minutes

London stocks advanced on Wednesday as oil prices regained strength and investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes.

Oil prices rose following a volatile Tuesday, lifted by hopes global producers will agree to freeze output at a meeting on 17 April.

Kuwait, a major player within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), expressed confidence that members and non-members of the bloc will move ahead with the proposal to curb production.

At 1129 BST, Brent crude had climbed 2.06% to $38.67 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate was up 2.7% to $36.89 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the market is looking ahead to minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting for more details behind the central bank’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged.

The market will also be searching for clues on the timing of the next interest rate increase.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen last Tuesday urged caution on raising interest rates amid concerns about global economic slowdown and low inflation.

Yellen’s dovish remarks prompted many analysts to rule out a rate hike in April, however more hawkish comments from other policymakers has caused confusion.

“The decision at the last meeting to revise its forecasts for hikes this year from four to two was welcomed by the markets but now seems we’re back in a position where the markets aren’t even convinced we’ll see a single rate hike this year,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

“Such is the conflicting comments coming from the different Fed officials on the economy and the outlook for interest rates that it’s difficult to see where a consensus on a rate hike is going to come from.”

Elsewhere, German industrial production rose 1.3% year-on-year in February, beating expectations for a 0.4% increase, the Economy Ministry revealed.

Closer to home, UK car sales in March reached levels not seen since 1999, with 5.3% growth in the new car market. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that almost 519,000 cars were registered last month, though growth in private car registrations slowed.

Still to come, weekly US oil inventories data from the Department of Energy are due at 1530 BST.

In company news, Glencore slumped as it confirmed it has agreed to sell 40% of its agriculture commodities business to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for $2.5bn (£1.8bn) cash, potentially followed by a further sale of 20% more in the long-term.

easyJet’s shares descended after reporting its load factor decreased in March as hundreds of flights were cancelled due to industrial action.

Shares in pharmaceuticals companies Shire, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline rallied as investors bet that the termination of Pfizer’s agreement to buy Allergan might make the London-listed firms bid targets.

Tullow Oil gained after saying that it has successfully explored and appraised the Wisting South & Wisting West appraisal well in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway.