Footsie climbs as oil trades at four-year high

Market report Hannah Burley

The FTSE 100 climbed to a three-week high on Tuesday, topped by Next shares and buoyed by oil majors as crude prices rallied.

London’s blue chip index ended the day up 0.6 per cent at 7,507.56 points, as a surge in crude prices raised interest in oil majors, with Royal Dutch Shell’s ‘A’ shares lifting 59p to 2,653.5p and BP climbing 16.6p to 586.7p.

David Madden, a market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “The FTSE 100 is the standout performer in Europe thanks to the benchmark’s relatively high exposure to energy and mining stocks.

“Royal Dutch Shell and BP have helped the British index due to the rally in the underling oil market.

“Brent crude oil reached its highest level in four years as dealers are concerned about supply, and energy stocks are in high demand on the back of it.”

In UK stocks, Imperial Brands shares were up 22.5p at 2,632p after the Davidoff and Lambert & Butler maker said annual sales of vaping and smoking alternatives were on track to reach up to £1.5 billion by 2020. British American Tobacco, meanwhile, edged lower by 4p to 3,540p following the appointment of Jack Bowles as its new chief executive.

Away from the top tier, Irn-bru maker AG Barr fell 3p to 727p despite reporting a 4 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits for the first half of the year, as well as a 5.5 per cent lift in sales. Hotel Chocolat rose 6p to 343.5p on news of a 13 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profits to £12.7 million and plans for the chocolatier’s launch in the US and Japan.