A rising (oil) tide lifts all boats

Gains in shares of London-listed oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell, and oil stocks more generally, helped to keep the FTSE 100 and FTSE 350 in the green on Tuesday.

Traders welcomed news that Shell had boosted its estimates for the cost savings it expected to reap from its merger with BG Group from $3.5bn to $4.5bn. In an update, the company said it expected to “achieve and exceed the $3.5bn synergies prospectus commitment earlier than expected, in 2017, when synergies should be $4bn.

Acting as a backdrop, crude oil futures were moving higher on the back of the newsflow surrounding the ongoing difficult security situation in Nigeria´s key oil-producing region, the Niger Delta.

Retailers Burberry Group and Next were in vogue among investors after the latest data from the British Retail Consortium revealed that a warmer May had led to a slight thaw in consumer spending.

Figures from the BRC revealed that like-for-like sales rose 0.5% year-on-year in May, after sales fell in the previous two months, although the consortium warned that trade conditions remained tough for the sector.

“Clothing made a big comeback this month after suffering declines in April,” said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson.

“This appears to be due to consumers waiting for just the right moment before embarking on their pre-summer spending,” Dickinson added.

Mining stocks were soft after news broke that LME copper stocks spiked by 21.25kt on Monday as Singapore, Gwangyang, Busan and Chicago saw inflows.

"The abrupt one-day warranting rather implies intent to crush the backwardation in the forward curve. Spreads have duly flattened, and the recently emerged dominant party with >90% of warrants plus the next calendar two days of futures is almost certain to have seen their position dilute. Whether there will be more inflow to come is the main question: we think not (much)," analysts at Macquarie said in a research note sent to clients.

To take note of as well, analysts at UBS reiterated a 'sell' recommendation on shares of Anglo American.

Shares in life insurers were weaker as investors reacted to the non-committal and more 'dovish' remarks made by US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen in the previous session.