Sector movers: Oil and Gas leads gains as OPEC+ springs surprise on traders

Oil and Gas shares jumped to the top of the leader board after many of the world's major crude producers surprised traders with a decision to hold their combined output unchanged following talks on Thursday.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its main allies, especially the Russian Federation, had been expected to coordinate an increase in output.

Key to the above, Riyadh said it would stick to a prior self-imposed 1.0m barrel a day reduction in its own production of crude oil.

Front-dated Brent crude oil sprang 5.15% higher to $67.37 a barrel on the ICE in response, reaching their highest intra-day mark since January 2020 in the process.

Adding fuel to the gains in Brent, overnight Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen had bombed a Saudi airbase and hit a Saudi Aramco facility in Jeddah, the kingdom's economic capital.

Top performing sectors so far today

Gas, Water & Multiutilities 4,649.58 +2.17%

Oil & Gas Producers 5,357.43 +2.14%

Construction & Materials 7,463.95 +1.78%

Software & Computer Services 1,969.59 +1.78%

Beverages 23,045.43 +1.63%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Mining 24,528.62 -5.42%

Technology Hardware & Equipment 1,802.23 -2.97%

Industrial Engineering 14,915.03 -2.61%

Industrial Metals & Mining 5,858.13 -2.22%

Leisure Goods 24,530.20 -2.14%