London close: Late rally pushes Footsie higher as oil prices retreat

(Sharecast News) - London's blue chip index erased earlier losses to push higher by the close of play on Thursday as oil prices fell, while investors digested yet more tumultuous newsflow from the Middle East.

The FTSE 100 finished 0.3% higher to settle at 10,360.32, having dropped by as much as 0.9% by the midday mark.

Brent crude was down 2.6% at $95.26 a barrel on the news of a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon - where fighting had been a sticking point in a potential peace deal between Washington and Tehran.

Israel and Lebanon will reconvene on 22 June "with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement", the US said, adding that it has agreed to continue facilitating communication between the two parties.

The truce, however, was contingent on a complete cessation of fire from Iran-backed Hezbollah and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives from the South Litani area. Hezbollah later rejected the ceasefire deal, stating that the "resistance will continue".

"It feels like we have seen this movie before, multiple times, but new ceasefire reports have helped push oil prices lower after three days of gains," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

"Whether this is an actual ceasefire or one of Trump's ceasefires that involves opponents still firing at each other remains to be seen, but as this week's inventory draws have shown, the global economy continues to run out of oil."

On home shores, the S&P Global construction purchasing managers' index fell to 38.2 from 39.7 in April, staying below the neutral 50.0 mark for the 17th month in a row. It was also the steepest rate of contraction since May 2020.

Banks drop, JD jumps

Asia-focused Prudential, Standard Chartered and HSBC were the worst performers on the FTSE 100 following a report that some banks have suspended opening Hong Kong bank accounts for mainland China clients that could be used for overseas investments.

Beijing is looking to boost regulatory oversight of capital outflows - which reportedly reached $807bn last year, the highest on record - and earlier in the week they expanded outbound investment regulations to explicitly cover individual investors for the first time, according to The Straits Times.

Heavyweight mining stocks also fell as commodity prices weakened, with Rio Tinto and Antofagasta among the worst performers, along with Sainsbury's and Vodafone which traded without entitlement to the dividend.

On the upside, JD Sports rallied following a report it is exploring a sale of the wholesale business which owns a licence to the Billionaire Boys Club streetwear brand. According to Sky News, the sportswear retailer is working with advisers at Interpath on a potential deal. Prospective acquirers of the BBC licence have been sounded out in recent weeks about a transaction, Sky sources said.

A number of stocks which have been dampened by recent concerns of AI disruption were making their way higher on Thursday, including Relx, Experian, Sage Group and Pearson.

On the FTSE 250, CMC Markets surged 17% as the financial services company said it expected fiscal 2027 net operating income to beat forecasts after posting a rise in profits for the 12 months to March 31. It now expected a rise of at least 17% to �460m - �480m compared with company-compiled analyst expectations of �385.5m.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,360.32 0.27%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,302.65 0.50%

techMARK (TASX) 6,010.31 0.69%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Relx plc (REL) 2,583.00p 6.03%

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 9,162.00p 5.29%

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 87.46p 4.67%

Experian (EXPN) 2,610.00p 3.53%

The Sage Group (SGE) 883.20p 3.52%

Autotrader Group (AUTO) 459.60p 3.35%

Entain (ENT) 571.40p 3.22%

Pearson (PSON) 1,143.50p 2.79%

3i Group (III) 2,190.00p 2.77%

Convatec Group (CTEC) 204.20p 2.77%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Prudential (PRU) 974.80p -7.60%

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 295.20p -3.09%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,955.50p -2.81%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 7,847.00p -2.79%

Vodafone Group (VOD) 110.55p -2.43%

British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,320.00p -1.86%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 4,210.00p -1.84%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,367.00p -1.80%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,510.00p -1.53%

Games Workshop Group (GAW) 19,100.00p -1.34%

FTSE 250 - Risers

CMC Markets (CMCX) 430.00p 16.85%

B&M European Value Retail (BME) 208.20p 6.55%

GB Group (GBG) 197.80p 5.55%

HGCapital Trust (HGT) 407.00p 5.44%

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 600.00p 4.90%

Ninety One (N91) 221.60p 4.53%

Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 305.00p 4.27%

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 249.80p 4.17%

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 140.00p 4.09%

Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 382.00p 4.03%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 726.50p -7.33%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 823.50p -6.42%

AEP Plantations (AEP) 1,578.00p -3.78%

Partners Group Private Equity Limited. (EUR) (PEY) 8.72p -3.54%

Marshalls (MSLH) 131.60p -3.16%

Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (FGEN) 80.70p -3.00%

Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 3,218.00p -2.54%

Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 710.00p -2.54%

Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 99.30p -2.26%

Patria Private Equity Trust (PPET) 606.00p -2.26%