In Frankfurt, the Dax rose 0.6%, in Paris the Cac 40 index dropped 0.2%, and in New York the Dow Jones and S&P 500 were trading up by 0.3% and 1% shortly after markets closed in Europe.
The price of oil also likely weighed on Shell and BP, with Brent crude dropping 1.2% to $41.20 per barrel.
In company news, engineering giant Smiths Group leapt to the top of the FTSE 100 with an 8.8% gain as it announced plans to cut jobs and slash costs.
The news that holiday firm On the Beach hit a half-year loss was perhaps not surprising, but shares still dropped by 2.5% as the scale of the devastation was revealed. Pre-tax loss was £34 million compared with a £12 million profit a year earlier.
EasyJet fell by 1% after union Balpa said the company is considering plans to lay off 700 pilots and close bases at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle airports.
Intercontinental Hotels took a 2% hit on the news that the Holiday Inn owner believes revenue has more than halved over the past six months.
Finally, housebuilder Redrow dropped 6.8% as it announced plans to scale back operations in London after a profit warning caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Smiths Group, up 114p to 1,412p, Ferguson, up 146p to 6,612p, Polymetal, up 26p to 1,615.5p, M&G, up 2.25p to 167.55p, and Informa, up 5.9p to 470.4p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Shell ‘A’, down 52.8p to 1,287p, Shell ‘B’, down 46.8p to 1,224p, IAG, down 8.4p to 222.2p, BAE Systems, down 12.3p to 483.4p, and BP, down 7.7p to 307.2p.
