Sector movers: Oil stocks skid after OPEC+ surprise

Weakness in the oil patch after OPEC+ delayed its next ministerial meeting amid a squabble over production quotas weighed on the FTSE 350.

On Wednesday, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its main allies said the next meeting would be pushed back from 25-26 November to 30 November.

The reason? Angola and Nigeria were reportedly unhappy with the output limits placed on them by the cartel.

News of the postponement, a decidedly rare event, saw front-dated Brent crude oil futures drop below the $80 per barrel mark at one point during the session.

However, futures later recovered somewhat to end 1.29% lower at $81.16 a barrel on the ICE.

"Uncertainty is never good for financial markets, with markets now having to wait longer to get clarity on what OPEC+ does next year on the oil production side," UBS commodity strategist Giovanni Staunovo, told Dow Jones Newswires in an email.

"As a result oil prices have come off. The postponement of the meeting also shows there are some different views among the group participants."

For her part, Natasha Kaneva, global commodities strategy head at J.P.Morgan, believed that Russia and Saudi would still extend their voluntary cuts through the first three months of 2024, as had been expected, Barron's reported.

However, the possibility now existed that they might instead raise output in a bid to push out U.S. production.

Going the other way, the Technology sector paced gains as shares of Sage Group bounded higher to a fresh all-time high on the back of the company's latest interims.

The business software outfit also raised its dividend and disclosed a share buyback programme of up to £350m.

Top performing sectors so far today

Software & Computer Services 2,333.89 +5.41%

Investment Banking and Brokerage Services 13,757.91 +2.08%

Travel & Leisure 6,844.50 +1.69%

Chemicals 8,718.87 +1.68%

Telecommunications Service Providers 1,982.47 +1.60%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Oil, Gas and Coal 8,523.50 -2.13%

Banks 3,464.93 -1.00%

Aerospace and Defence 7,698.83 -0.84%

Industrial Metals & Mining 6,632.28 -0.79%

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 19,556.97 -0.76%