Sector movers: Resource stock uptick continues as dollar weakens

Resource stocks rose for a second successive session on Thursday, as the dollar weakened resulting in an uptick for a plethora of commodity futures.

The FTSE 100 closed 1.06% or 61.62 points higher at 5898.76, while the FTSE 250 ended up a mere 0.59% or 94.31 points higher at 16,086.73.

At 1727 GMT, as conflicting market chatter about possible coordinated oil production cuts between OPEC and non-OPEC producers continued, headline oil futures contracts slipped into the red. The Brent front-month oil futures contract was down 1.11% or 39 cents to $34.65 per barrel, while WTI was down 0.37% or 12 cents to $32.16 per barrel.

Base metal futures were largely in positive territory on the London Metal Exchange at 1635 GMT. Three-month futures contracts of copper (up 2.0%), nickel (up 0.7%), tin (up 0.9%) and zinc (up 2.6%) headed higher.

Precious metals saw safe haven demand uptick yet again. On the COMEX, the front-month gold futures contract was up 1.19% or $13.60 to $1,154.90 an ounce while spot gold was 1.15% or $13.12 higher at $1,155.75 an ounce. COMEX silver rose 0.89% or 13 cents to $14.87 an ounce, while spot platinum rose 2.61% or $22.95 to $092.55 an ounce.

Unsurprisingly, Anglo American (up 19.95%), Glencore (up 15.97%), Antofagasta (up 14.56%), BHP Billiton (up 10.79%) and Rio Tinto (up 10.27%) were the biggest gainers on the FTSE 100.

Midcaps Tullow Oil (up 11.04%), Vedanta Resources (up 9.22%), Amec Foster Wheeler (up 8.36%), Evraz (up 7.80%) and Ophir Energy (up 727%) led the FTSE 250 charge.

Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell rallied despite posting an 80% drop in full year profit, as investors knew last month what was coming and were eyeing up continued dividends. Investec also had a good day after ratings agency Moody's upgraded the bank’s long-term ratings by one notch.

Astrazeneca dropped after warning that the expiry of the patent on its anti-cholesterol drug Crestor will cut its profits this year as cheaper, generic versions come to the market.

EasyJet shares also dipped after it said its load factor for January, which gauges how many seats were actually taken up on flights, nudged down to 85% from 85.1%.

ICAP slumped as the company saw a big drop in currency trading volumes in January on its EBS system compared to the same month last year. They handled an average of $103.8bn a day in January, which was a 39% rise compared to December, but a 20% drop from the previous year.