Friday, March 29

FTSE 100 rises on commodity boost; Experian, Lloyds Banking slide


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London’s FTSE 100 index edged higher on Wednesday, lifted by heavyweight commodity stocks, although the gains were capped by a fall in shares of Experian and Lloyds Banking Group.

The blue-chip index rose 0.2%, with oil majors BP Plc and Shell Plc gaining 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively, as oil prices clawed back heavy losses suffered this week.

Shell also got a boost after JP Morgan raised its price target on the stock.

Miners climbed, tracking a rebound in metal prices. Glencore jumped 2.1% to top the FTSE 100 index.

Experian slipped 2.7% to the bottom of the FTSE 100 index after Citigroup cut its rating to “neutral” from “buy” on the world’s largest credit data firm’s stock.

LLoyds Banking Group dropped 2.4% after RBC double downgraded the stock to “underperform,” saying growth drivers do not appear to be “game changing.”

The domestically focussed mid-cap FTSE 250 index declined 0.2% after surging 2% on Tuesday. (Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)



financialpost.com