A slight pick-up in the oil price meant oilers played a part in the FTSE 100’s 92.12-point gain to 6128.82, recovering from yesterday’s slump when ECB president Mario Draghi spooked markets by stating that he does not expect further rate cuts.
Banks enjoyed a day in the sun, having spent much of this year under the cosh, as traders’ panic was replaced by more optimism about the additional €20 billion (£15 billion) of monthly stimulus by the ECB.
Barclays, whose value has shrunk by a quarter in 2016, gained 7.75p to 167.65p, while taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland, another heavy faller, rose 9.2p to 230.9p.
B&Q owner Kingfisher, led by Véronique Laury, missed out on the rally, rising just 1.6p at 340.9p.
This came as bearish analysts at Barclays claimed the takeover of Homebase by Australia’s Wesfarmers and a revamp of its stores to become Bunnings will shake up the UK’s DIY market.
Missed out: Kingfisher boss Véronique Laury (Picture: Kingfisher)
Kingfisher
The same broker urged clients not to get sucked in by a potential turnaround at struggling supermarkets group Morrisons, up 2.2p at 195.2p. Barclays said it was not confident the sales recovery will continue.
Goldman showed its support for Just Eat, up 0.7p at 377.9p, as concerns about increasing competition eat into the online takeaway firm’s share price. Just Eat’s house broker, which raised its target price to 700p, insisted rivals such as Deliveroo “address a different segment of the market”.
Storage firm Safestore was 7.8p firmer at 343.9p after agreeing to buy smaller rival Space Maker for £44 million.
