Oil prices help Footsie to sixmonth high

Rising oil prices boosted London’s top-flight index to a fresh six-month high, as the FTSE rose 62.2 points to close at 7,523.07.

BP and Royal Dutch Shell A shares were both given a boost due to the underlying rally in the oil market, closing up 2.6 per cent at 582.5p and 2.2 per cent at 2,521p, respectively.

David Madden, market analyst at CMC Marketsuk,said:“therallyinglobalstocksisshowing no signs of slowing down, and lately, no news has been deemed to be good news.”

Sterling dropped off in the afternoon as the dollar strengthened, leaving it 0.36 per cent down against the greenback at $1.294 and 0.14 per cent up against the euro at €1.154.

In company news, shares in broadcaster STV slid 7.5p to 375p after shareholders registered their disapproval at chief executive Simon Pitts’ generous pay packet, which included a £645,000 “golden hello”, dealing the Scottish broadcaster a blow at its AGM.

Meanwhile Barclays shares dipped after an influential shareholder advisory group called on investors to vote down pay plans for bosses. It closed down 2.8p, at 166.6p.

Property giant British Land slipped when it offloaded 12 Sainsbury’s superstores from its joint venture with the supermarket under plans to slash its exposure to the troubled retail sector. It finished 3p lower at 592.6p.

Angling Direct jumped in value after it hailed a record start to the year. The retailer said likefor-like store sales were up by 29.5 per cent in February and March, while overall sales were up 28.5 per cent compared with the previous year. It closed 5.5p up at 73p.