Investors are also relatively cheery ahead of next week’s reopening of shops, with pubs being allowed to serve alcohol outdoors. Staycations are to be permitted for one household.
There is no change as yet to the June 21 deadline for legal limits on social contact to end, along with restrictions on numbers at weddings and funerals, with nightclubs also being allowed to reopen.
Traders on the IG platform were calling the oil price up 0.75% which could boost BP and Shell, staving off some of the losses the FTSE would otherwise endure.
BP today said it expected to cut its debt pile down to $35 billion earlier than previously anticipated due to its disposals going faster than expected. That in turn means share buybacks should be coming sooner than originally thought at the giant which cut its dividend last year.
The shares jumped nearly 3% on the opening today.
IG was also calling gold up 0.6% which was a boon to miners who benefited from commodity price gains across the spectrum. Glencore, Antofagasta and Anglo American were at the top end of the FTSE leaderboard, up 3%. Top of the tree was SSE, up 6%.
Fallers were few and far between, with Ocado, BT and Rentokil down just 0.5%.
