FTSE up thanks to oil, mining stocks

Rising oil and mining stocks kept the London market on the front foot today, despite the impact of a 2% fall for shares in mobile phone group Vodafone.

Takeover speculation also had a bearing on the performance, following reports involving Northern Rock, B&Q owner Kingfisher and gas company BOC.

Overall, the FTSE 100 Index edged ahead from Friday’s four-and-a-half-year high to reach mid-morning 3.1 points stronger at 5849.3.

Kingfisher led the FTSE 100 Index after bid rumours resurfaced – this time involving possible bid interest from US-based home improvement chain Lowe’s. Shares stood 3% higher, up 6.75p to 231.75p.

It was followed by a clutch of mining stocks as the sector remained buoyed by Friday’s announcement of a possible bid for platinum firm Lonmin.

Xstrata lifted 39p to 1740p while BHP Billiton gained 20p to 1004p and RioTinto added 59p to 2923p.

Energy companies BP and Royal Dutch Shell added to the gains after unrest in Nigeria pushed oil prices back towards 60 US dollars a barrel. Shell stood 17p higher at 1890p while BP rose 9.5p to 665p, a gain of more than 1%.

The gains offset falls for Northern Rock and Vodafone after a broker downgraded its forecasts for the mobile phone stock, which fell 2.5p to 121.75p.

Northern was 23p lower at 1127p after Friday’s rumours of a possible bid from Bradford & Bingley went cold.

Among other banks on the slide, HBOS fell 10.5p to 1018.5p, Lloyds TSB eased 2.25p to 544.5p and Barclays shed 7.5p to 645.5p ahead of full-year results tomorrow.

Takeover speculation also focused on BOC after a report at the weekend said the company had agreed to an £8bn (€11.7bn) takeover from German firm Linde.

While there was no confirmation from the firm, BOC shares rose 26p to 1515p.