MARKET REPORT

COMMODITY stocks were on the rise yesterday, with a rebound in metal and oil prices lifting crude producers and UK-listed miners.

It helped push the FTSE 100 up 0.2%, or 14.27 points, to 7,577.49 points.

Oil giants were also among the biggest risers, with up 6.2p at 563.7p and

‘B’ shares up 26.5p at 2,614p.

It comes amid a 2% jump in the price of Brent crude to 76.20 US dollars per barrel.

In currencies, sterling was mixed rising 0.4% against the US dollar to 1.286 while falling 0.3% versus the euro to 1.105.

The pairing was helped by a sell-off on the dollar, but the pound was still feeling the effects of chatter around Government’s “no-deal” Brexit plans.

In a bid to demonstrate the Government is prepared for all eventualities, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab outlined on Thursday how the UK would handle leaving the EU without a trade deal with its continental partners.

Chancellor Philip Hammond also detailed how the UK economy would be knocked by a no-deal scenario, saying in a letter to Treasury select committee chair Nicky Morgan that GDP would be 7.7% lower.

In UK stocks, rose 2p to 100.6p after the outsourcer signed a new contract worth around £75m with the Australian Defence Force.

shares rose 1.4p to 658p despite warning that it would take a US$55m (£43m) hit on the sale of its shares in a project in the North Sea.

The energy firm said yesterday that it would offload its 20% stake in the Greater Stella area development and its 25% interest in the FPF1 floating rig, both in the North Sea.

slumped 2p to 111p as a competitive process to appoint new auditors got under way, following the private jet firm’s discovery of a £3.3m accounting error earlier this year.

Its interim review of the first half’s financial results will continue to be undertaken by Deloitte, which was the auditor in charge when the error occurred.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were up 28.6p at 833.6p, up 10.25p at 320.75p, up 39p at 1,575p,

up 23p at and

947.2p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were down 138.5p at down 3,909p,

35p at 1,079.5p,

down 65p at 3,635p, and down 11.4p at 716.8p.