London close: Crude futures plummet, but Footsie barely flinches

Somewhat unexpectedly, at Thursday's summit, in Vienna, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided not to cut its current "official" level of production, in effect admitting that their power to influence the market is now diminished.

On the other hand, it might be the best way to force others to help share the burden of stabilising prices, they seem to have reasoned.

In any case, it is not every day that one sees Brent futures drop by almost 7%. As of 17:18 they were off by 6.6% to $72.63 per barrel on the ICE.

Quite impressively, London's benchmark index, the Footsie, barely flinched in response, ending the session lower by just six points at 6,723. The index has traded broadly sideways since hitting a two-month high last week.

"Each member of the oil cartel is effectively waiting for someone else to blink first, the consensus being ‘we’ll cut if they cut’. Whilst in theory this sounds sensible, with no one actually willing to cut, oil looks set for another precipitous fall," said analyst Connor Campbell from Spreadex mused to himself before the meeting.

"The FTSE is suffering at the hands of weak oil, due to the prevalence of energy companies making up the index," he said.

Elsewhere, speeches from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, and ECB members Jens Weidmann and Vitor Constancio were in focus on Thursday, along with data on German inflation.

The latter surprised some analysts to the downside, sending Bund yields below 0.7% for the first time ever.

Speaking in Finland Mario Draghi said the Governing Council is unanimous in its agreement to employ additional non-standard measures should they be needed.

Energy shares slump

Oil and gas producers such as BG Group, Tullow Oil, Shell, BP, Afren and Enquest ended firmly in the red as shares tracked crude prices lower following the outcome of the OPEC meeting.

BG Group was also feeling the heat as the proposed £25m pay package for its new boss Helge Lund continues to spark anger. The Institute of Directors branded the remuneration "excessive" and "inflammatory".

Stocks in the energy services sector were also under pressure on concerns that lower prices could prompt producers to scale back on project spend. Petrofac, which delivered a profit warning to investors last week on the back of lower oil prices and the timing of contracts, was a heavy faller, along with Hunting and Amec Foster Wheeler.

Amec Foster Wheeler, however, was also trading lower after going ex-dividend, meaning that investors will no longer have access to the company's latest payout. A number of stocks others also went ex-dividend on Thursday, including Dunelm, Johnson Matthey, Royal Mail, SABMiller, Vedanta Resources, Lancashire Holdings, Wolseley and JD Wetherspoon.

Glaxosmithkline was subdued despite saying it is on track to complete its complex three-way £11bn deal with Swiss pharmaceutical peer Novartis next year after US regulators approved the first two parts of the transaction.

Stagecoach saw shares surged after its 90%-owned joint venture with Virgin Rail won the contract from the Department for Transport to run the new InterCity East Coast franchise for eight years from March 2015.

Supermarket chain J Sainsbury was under pressure after Shore Capital downgraded its rating from 'hold' to 'sell', saying investors should expect a "material contraction in profitability".

techMARK 2,936.47 +0.86%
FTSE 100 6,723.42 -0.09%
FTSE 250 15,889.66 +0.64%

FTSE 100 - Risers
easyJet (EZJ) 1,633.00p +5.70%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 457.80p +4.81%
TUI Travel (TT.) 433.30p +3.78%
ITV (ITV) 212.90p +2.75%
Intu Properties (INTU) 357.60p +2.64%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,248.00p +2.63%
Barclays (BARC) 243.80p +2.44%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,133.00p +2.35%
Carnival (CCL) 2,697.00p +2.20%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,078.00p +1.89%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 464.90p -7.21%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 843.50p -6.23%
BG Group (BG.) 986.70p -5.98%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,960.00p -4.76%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,265.50p -4.27%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,179.00p -3.73%
Fresnillo (FRES) 731.00p -3.18%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,345.00p -2.88%
BP (BP.) 426.20p -2.67%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,567.00p -2.40%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 400.40p +8.22%
National Express Group (NEX) 257.40p +6.89%
Greencore Group (GNC) 295.00p +6.08%
RPC Group (RPC) 580.00p +6.03%
Shaftesbury (SHB) 806.00p +5.77%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 505.00p +5.74%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,400.00p +5.37%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 119.20p +5.02%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 900.00p +4.47%
UBM (UBM) 468.10p +4.33%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 549.00p -11.88%
Afren (AFR) 58.25p -10.59%
EnQuest (ENQ) 58.25p -10.38%
Premier Oil (PMO) 216.00p -7.02%
Hunting (HTG) 626.50p -6.98%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 995.00p -6.04%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 640.00p -5.81%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 167.20p -3.74%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 157.90p -3.72%
Lonmin (LMI) 179.70p -3.49%