There was a major uptick in global shipping on a money line for London stock on Friday, as oil prices soared, driving shares of BP and Shell under heavy pressure, with mining companies on the rise.
FTSE 100 UKX index,
rose 0.6% to 6,715.70, and the FTSE 250 MCX,
gained 0.9% and the GBPUSD pound,
it gained 0.3% against the dollar. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude prices each rose more than 2%, as the large carrier Ever Given remained in the Suez Canal, halting traffic on both sides.
Read: Concerns over Suez Canal crash heading towards natural gas
It is also a major waterway for energy transportation, with crude and Brent futures prices climbing over 2% on Friday. While the price response was seen as short-lived, Egyptian officials say unrest could continue for several days. Shares of major BP oil companies,
BP,
and Shell RDS.A,
RDSA,
it rose 3.6% and 2.8%, respectively.
Commodity-related stocks were also rising in optimism over the global economy, as the U.S. vaccine campaign builds and the UK government’s plan to close the lock over the next three months was agreed in Parliament on Thursday. Rio Tinto RIO miner shares,
RIO,
it climbed 3.7%.
Data showed that UK sales jumped 2.1% in February, driven by spending on household goods and home improvement supplies.
And stock aimed at reopening also gained momentum, with shares of cinema operator Cineworld CINE,
climbing 8%, and those of Trainline TRN train and coach ticket app,
and easyJet EZJ,
it rose above 3% each.
Smiths SMIN Group,
it was a real gain, up 7% after the engineering firm nearly doubled pretax profits for the first half of fiscal 2021 and said it was optimistic about meeting full forecasts -year.