Sector Movers: Oil, mining stocks keep London market on positive turf

Oil and mining stocks rose on Friday, to ensure headline London indices ended the week in positive territory.

The FTSE 100 closed 1.38% or 83.20 points higher at 6,096.01, while the FTSE 250 ended 1.02% or 167.97 points higher at 16,567.04. A marginal recovery in oil prices cooled late on Friday after London trading hours, as US traders appeared to book profits on an uptick seen earlier in the session.

News of another meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers appeared to strengthen Brent and WTI prices late in European session. However, at 1929 GMT, Brent was marginally down 0.57% or 20 cents to $35.09 per barrel, while WTI was 0.97% or 32 cents lower at $32.75 per barrel.

Precious metals were also on negative turf as the dollar strengthened on positive US GDP data. The COMEX front-month gold futures contract fell 1.19% or $14.70 to $1,224.10 an ounce, while spot gold fell 0.65% or $8.01 to $1,224.90 an ounce. COMEX silver fell a massive 3.09% or 47 cents to $14.73 an ounce, while spot platinum also fell 1.29% or $11.92 to $914.63 an ounce.

However, headline base metal futures ended the week in the green on the London Metal Exchange. At 1635 GMT, three-month futures contracts of nickel (up 0.3%), zinc (up 1.1%), lead (up 1.9%), tin (up 0.6%), copper (up 1.8%) and primary aluminium (up 0.4%) traded higher.

Glencore (up 7.95%) was the biggest gainer on the FTSE 100, with Anglo American (up 6.74%) in close attendance. On the FTSE 250, oil and gas stocks led the way, with Tullow Oil (up 10.69%) ending the session as a midcap high riser. Petrofac (up 8.25%), Amec Foster Wheeler (up 7.22%) and Ophir Energy (up 6.89%) were among the biggest gainers.

Away from resource stocks, shares in Burberry (up 7.54%) rose after Nomura upgraded the fashion company to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and lifted the price target to 1,500p from 1,450p. Pearson was on the front foot as it reported a surge in net profits in 2015, following the sale of the Financial Times and its stake in The Economist.

However, Royal Bank of Scotland (down 7.13%) ended the session as the biggest FTSE100 faller after it confirmed £1.98bn loss for 2015, down from a £3.47bn loss the previous year. The group, which warned investors in January it would make a loss, said litigation and conduct costs increased 62% to £3.57bn.

London Stock Exchange Group (up 6.95%) shares continued to rally as details about a possible merger with Deutsche Borse continued to trickle in.

Finally, William Hill declined as the betting outfit posted a drop in 2015 profit as revenue fell, reflecting the lack of a major football tournament in the period, a lower average number of shops and a major restructuring on the Australian business.