UK shares rise as energy stocks boosted by oil prices

London’s FTSE 100 has ended the week in the green after a strong session for banks, miners and energy firms while international peers hit fresh record highs.

The blue-chip index moved 52.48 points higher, or 0.69%, to close at 7,682.5, helped by gains for Standard Chartered and Anglo American.

Energy stocks were given a boost as the price of Brent crude oil jumped by about 2.7% to 84.1 US dollars per barrel.

Over in the US, trading got off to a strong start with the S&P 500 touching another record high. The top index has been propelled higher in recent weeks with gains from top performers including chipmaker Nvidia.

It was 0.5% higher while the Dow Jones was up about 0.1% by the time European markets closed.

Germany’s Dax has also been breaking records and was up by 0.32% on Friday. On the other hand, France’s Cac fell by 0.55%.

It came despite further signs of weakness in China’s economy, with factory activity slowing for the fifth month in a row, according to the country’s official manufacturing PMI survey.

The pound was up by 0.2% against the US dollar to 1.265 and down by about 0.1% against the euro to 1.168.

In company news, shares in Pearson moved higher after the education publisher reported a big leap in profits and said it was wellpositioned to benefit from developments in artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

The company also announced plans to buy £200 million of shares back from investors. Its share price closed 5.6% higher.

ITV shares were given a boost by the news that the BBC had bought its stake in Britbox International in a £255 million deal, which ITV said would allow it to focus on ITVX.

The international version of the streaming service will now be fully owned by the commercial arm of the BBC.

ITV said it would return all the money it makes from the sale to shareholders, which helped drive its share price 14.3% higher on Friday.

Royal Mail is to increase the price of stamps again next month.

The troubled delivery giant said the price of first-class stamps will increase by 10p to £1.35 and second-class stamps will go up by 10p to 85p.

A year ago, a first-class stamp cost 95p before being hiked to £1.10 in April 2023, ahead of another 15p increase in October last year.

The rise comes after warnings by the loss-making firm over the impact of higher costs and lower demand for letters.

Royal Mail said the price increase will come into force on April 2.