Price for London Brent up by 1.7%

The global benchmark for crude, London Brent, was up by 1.7% at $43.75 per barrel, as of 6.30pm after major oil producing nations agreed to grow production.

A 9.7 million barrels per day (b/d) cut they signed up to in April will reduce to 7.7m b/d from the end of this month.

Demand is expected to increase as more countries relax their Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

The FTSE 100 Index surged 112.9 points, or more than 1.8%, to 6,292.65 as more of the UK started trying to get back to normal, with

“The FTSE 100 Index surged 112.9 points to 6,292.65”

Scotland substantially easing some of its lockdown rules.

There was also positive sentiment on other leading global financial markets. The French Cac 40 and German Dax indices rose 2.03% and 1.84% respectively, while in the US the Dow Jones was more than 0.6% higher by 6.30pm UK-time.

Among City stocks, Deltic Energy – formerly Cluff Natural Resources – was unchanged at 0.8p just as news broke that it had “unequivocally rejected” a possible all-share offer from Reabold Resources to acquire a controlling stake in the business for £12.3 million.

Construction group Galliford Try rose nearly 4% to £1.05 after a bullish trading update.