Ocado shares climb as FTSE 100 slips

European shares rallied yesterday as trade war fears cooled, but the boost was not enough to keep London’s top-flight out of the red.

The FTSE 100 finished the day 1.87 points, or 0.03% lower at 7,300.23.

Mining stocks moved higher on the back of investor relief, with Glencore up 8.35p to 308.7p, Rio Tinto higher by 10.5p at 3,615.5p and BHP Billiton up 16.6p to 1,549.6p.

The French Cac was 0.28% higher and Germany’s Dax was up 0.51%

In London, shares in online grocery group Ocado climbed as the company hit expectations for revenue growth in the third quarter.

Ocado said retail revenue rose 11.5% over its third quarter to September 2, which marks a slowdown on the 11.7% growth seen in its first half.

Despite the slight pullback on growth, Ocado said it remained within its predicted growth range for the full year of between 10% to 15%.

Shares in Ocado closed 7.2p higher at 919.8p.

In the commodities market, a barrel of Brent crude oil was trading at $78.85, marking a 1.1% rise on the previous session.

The pound was flat against both the US dollar and the euro at 1.315 and 1.258 respectively.

Foreign exchange experts see potential for the UK currency to have an upward streak if current weakness in the US dollar persists.