London midday: Stocks buoyed by gains in oil, despite

Stocks are holding slightly higher as investors digest Washington's decision overnight not to renew its waivers on sanctions for a spate of countries that import crude oil from Iran, including the likes of China and India.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration's decision to push Tehran's oil exports to zero.

Commenting on that decision, analysts at Barclays Research said recent developments posed a "material" upside risk to their forecast for Brent crude oil to average $70 a barrel in 2019, but not for the longer term, given the increased responsiveness of non-OPEC and US tight oil output to any shortfall in supplies.

However, they also now saw an increased risk of conflict in the Middle East.

Against that backdrop, as of 1206 BST the FTSE 100 was up by 32.84 points or 0.4% to 7,492.72, with shares of BP and Shell vying for the top spot on the leaderboard throughout much of the morning session with gains of over 2% for each one.

In parallel meanwhile, front month Brent crude oil futures were adding 0.35% to $74.30 a barrel on the ICE.

According to Bloomberg data, at 613,000 barrels a day, China was the largest buyer of Iranian crude in March, followed by South Korea with 387,000 b/d, Japan at 108,000 b/d and Turkey with 97,000 b/d.

Some reports were indicating that Beijing and New Delhi were still trying to negotiate extensions to their waivers, even as Tehran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz.

In the background meanwhile, the market spotlight was again on Westminster, with talks between the government and Labour set to resume after the Easter recess, even as investors digested reports that Tory lawmakers were planning to change their own party's rules in order to make it easier to force Prime Minister Theresa May out.

According to The Daily Telegraph, backbenchers had already chosen 12 June as the date by which she would be forced to comply.

Despite that, the pound was edging up by 0.24% versus the euro to 1.1560.

Also on Monday, it was reported that China's Politburo had pushed back on expectations for sustained policy stimulus.

For later in the day, the focus would be on a steady stream of quarterly results from US corporate heavyweights, including Coca Cola, Procter&Gamble and after the close of markets in the States, E-Bay, Snap and Twitter.

New home sales figures are also due out in the US, at 1500 BST.

Thomas Cook jumps on buyout speculation, Barclays in the spotlight

Shares of Thomas Cook were flying after Sky News reported at the weekend that several potential bidders had expressed interest in its tour operating unit. Among those is Chinese outfit Fosun, with whom it runs a joint-venture in that Asian country, with some parties reportedly said to be weighing bids for the entire outfit.

Barclays is planning cuts in pay and bonuses at its investment bank as it prepares to face-off against corporate raider Edward Bramson, the FT reported. The lender is due to update shareholders on first quarter trading on Thursday.

Ferrexpo reported a 6.4% improvement in revenue in its full-year results on Tuesday, to $1.27bn, after total pellet production rose 1.6% to 10,607 kilotonnes, but sales volumes fell 2.3% to 10,227 kilotonnes. The FTSE 250 company said its underlying EBITDA for the year ended 31 December was $503m, down 8.7% year-on-year, with its diluted earnings per share sliding 15.2% to 56.7 US cents.

British Land said it was selling 12 superstores from its joint venture with Sainsbury's for £429m, representing a net initial yield of 5.0%, to Realty Income Corporation. British Land's share of the proceeds will be £193.5m representing a “modest” premium to September 2018 book value.

Roche announced the launch of the new ‘VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail’ assay on Tuesday, for the detection of the HER2 biomarker in breast and gastric cancer. The Swiss pharmaceuticals giant described HER2 - human epidermal growth factor receptor two - as an important biomarker found in breast and gastric cancers. It said its detection and inhibition could help to more effectively manage those aggressive cancers, with the VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail assay designed to be completed within the same day, providing clinicians the ability to get results back quicker than the most common methods of confirmatory testing for HER2.

Stock in Travis Perkins was ahead following double upgrades from a couple of brokers.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,490.89 0.42%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,829.56 -0.03%
techMARK (TASX) 3,564.06 0.31%

FTSE 100 - Risers

NMC Health (NMC) 2,581.00p 2.50%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 8,230.00p 2.49%
BP (BP.) 581.20p 2.38%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,542.00p 2.33%
Pearson (PSON) 861.81p 2.18%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,520.00p 2.17%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 383.00p 2.16%
Centrica (CNA) 107.65p 1.80%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,910.00p 1.69%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 560.60p 1.63%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

easyJet (EZJ) 1,175.31p -3.58%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 977.00p -3.17%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 540.20p -3.05%
Fresnillo (FRES) 759.20p -2.47%
Barclays (BARC) 165.24p -2.46%
Aviva (AV.) 423.45p -1.89%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 258.00p -1.68%
ITV (ITV) 138.15p -1.53%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 605.80p -1.53%
Schroders (SDR) 3,148.00p -1.50%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Premier Oil (PMO) 109.72p 8.10%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 177.30p 7.00%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 531.02p 5.15%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 489.70p 4.77%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 251.40p 3.88%
Card Factory (CARD) 206.80p 3.40%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 21.21p 3.26%
Indivior (INDV) 42.31p 3.20%
Hays (HAS) 152.50p 3.04%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,468.00p 2.91%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Intu Properties (INTU) 97.78p -3.85%
Kier Group (KIE) 344.81p -3.58%
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) 248.05p -3.48%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 315.00p -3.37%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 157.00p -3.33%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,367.00p -2.91%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 950.00p -2.86%
Charter Court Financial Services Group (CCFS) 359.00p -2.45%
IP Group (IPO) 93.50p -2.40%
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 207.50p -2.35%