London midday: Stocks maintain gains as oil giants rally
London stocks were still in the black by midday on Tuesday, underpinned by a strong showing from oil giants Shell and BP, as investors mulled the latest reading on the UK services sector.
The FTSE 100 was up 1.1% at 5,815.02.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Reverting back to the optimism that started to creep in towards the end of April - before Donald Trump opened his big mouth and unleashed an election-eyeing attack on China - the Europe markets all rebounded on Tuesday.
"With Boris Johnson likely to unveil some form of lockdown plan this week, Italy and Spain easing restrictions, and California to follow suit on Friday, investors decided to turn away from the US-China tensions to focus on the idea that the worst part of the pandemic may be approaching its end."
On the data front, figures out earlier showed that activity in the UK services sector slumped to a record low in April amid the coronavirus lockdown.
The IHS Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers' index slid to 13.4 from 34.5 in March, coming in a touch ahead of the preliminary reading of 12.3 but marking a record low. Prior to the last two months, the survey-record low stood at 40.1 in November 2008.
A reading below 50.0 indicates contraction, while a reading above signals expansion.
Tim Moore, economics director at IHS Markit, said the data suggests the downturn in the UK economy in the second quarter of this year will be "far deeper and more widespread than anything seen in living memory".
"Historical comparisons of the PMI with GDP indicate that the April survey reading is consistent with the economy falling at a quarterly rate of approximately 7%, but we expect the actual decline in GDP could be even greater, in part because the PMI excludes the vast majority of the self-employed and the retail sector."
In equity markets, Shell and BP paced the gains as oil prices rose on storage hopes, with West Texas Intermediate up 9.7% at $22.36 a barrel and Brent crude 7.8% higher at $29.33.
Carnival was a high riser, having fallen sharply on Monday, as it said it will resume its P&O Cruises operations in Australia and New Zealand after August 31, in response to continuing travel restrictions due to the impact of Covid-19.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,815.02 1.06%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,076.96 0.79%
techMARK (TASX) 3,544.26 1.23%
FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 313.30p 4.22%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,309.80p 3.51%
Informa (INF) 430.10p 3.39%
Glencore (GLEN) 142.18p 3.36%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,261.60p 3.27%
Prudential (PRU) 1,078.00p 3.26%
Barclays (BARC) 102.68p 3.01%
Carnival (CCL) 991.00p 2.76%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,282.00p 2.52%
BT Group (BT.A) 116.80p 2.50%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Next (NXT) 4,603.00p -3.14%
Meggitt (MGGT) 260.60p -2.40%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,396.00p -2.28%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 514.40p -1.61%
Rightmove (RMV) 487.40p -1.46%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,831.00p -1.39%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 182.00p -1.22%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 201.60p -1.13%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,013.00p -1.01%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 643.20p -0.95%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Vivo Energy (VVO) 80.20p 6.79%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 282.00p 6.02%
Hyve Group (HYVE) 20.35p 5.99%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 236.50p 5.82%
Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 498.50p 5.28%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 471.10p 4.69%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 118.70p 4.67%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,332.00p 4.55%
Weir Group (WEIR) 934.60p 4.54%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 247.20p 4.22%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 157.20p -5.07%
Hammerson (HMSO) 58.60p -4.59%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 86.90p -4.15%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 72.40p -3.47%
Marston's (MARS) 34.10p -3.40%
Capita (CPI) 35.76p -3.04%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 140.00p -2.98%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 875.00p -2.89%
C&C Group (CCR) 188.80p -2.68%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 64.20p -2.43%