Headline shares were solidly up but off highs after a positive display in the morning session, with BP (LON:BP.) leading the way after yesterdays meeting with President Obama. At time of writing the FTSE 100 stood at 5277.66 up 39.74.
LONDON MARKETS
BP was at the fore this morning, as investors reacted positively to yesterdays meeting with President Obama, where it was announced that BP will cancel its dividends or the rest of the year, and deposit $20bn into an escrow account to be used to settle claims caused by the spill. As midday approached BP was up nearly 8% at 363.5p
RBS shares saw gains after announcing it is to sell its retail banking operation in the UAE to the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Shares traded up a shade under 5% at 47.36p
After reporting profits were 5.9% lower before tax, WS Atkins (LON:ATK) was trading down 4% at 696.75p. Game Group, the Video Games retailer traded at 82.9p, down 6% after reporting further declines in sales, with Group revenues down 11.4% for the first 19 weeks to 12 June 2010.
Those other shares seeing gains included Lloyds, up 4.4% at 58.1p, Barc, up 3.4% at 315.4p and Man Group (LON:EMG), up 3% at 246.6p. Banks seems to react favourably to new Chancellor George Osbornes maiden Mansion House speech yesterday evening, where he said he would abolish the FSA, handing new powers to the BoE who would be responsible for regulation of the UKs financial sector.
On the downside on the main index were Fresnillo (LON:FRES), down 3.7% at 1016p, Petrofac (LON:PFC), down 2% at 1261p, Centrica (LON:CNA), down 1.5% at 299.2p and Severn Trent (LON:SVT), down 1.5% at 1230p.
Brent crude oil price rose above $78 in early morning trading on the back of increased confidence about the global economic recovery. Oil prices were given a boost by yesterday's surprise drop in US oil inventories which pointed to increased demand during the next few months. By mid-morning, Brent crude was trading at $78.58 a barrel.
British Airways (LON:BAY) and Unite have failed to reach an agreement and the latest round of negotiations has ended with the parties no closer together, according to the ACAS conciliation service. No further meetings between BA and Unite are…
