Britain’s FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.35% at 7,541.8 after a rally in commodity shares, although financial stocks fell amid fears that policy tightening by the Bank of England may trigger a long-lasting recession in Britain.
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Michael Hewson, the chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said, “The FTSE 100 has been helped by a resilient oil and gas sector, with a rebound in oil prices helping to underpin the broader index, led by BP and Shell. But a host of companies going ex-dividend – trading without the value of their next dividend payment – dragged down the index.”
On Wednesday Britain’s Office for National Statistics announced that inflation had hit 10.1%, the highest figure since February 1982.
British energy companies called on the Government to do more to help households and businesses amid soaring energy prices going into winter.
Shares in Plus500 (GB:PLUS) rose 5.5% thanks to an interim profit report which saw the online trading platform’s revenue surge by 48%.
Shares in insurer Aviva (GB:AV) fell following a surge led by better-than-expected financial results on August 10, which saw a 14% increase in profits in the first half of 2022.
Business headlines in the UK today:
