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The FTSE100 opened strongly encouraged by Wall Street's strong finish to an up-and-down day and following a mini recovery overnight in oil prices and an increase in commodity prices.
“Forewarned is forearmed and oil giant Shell (LSE:RDSB) escaped the plunge in its share price that rival BP (LSE:BP.) suffered earlier this week by giving investors advance notice of bleak full year figures,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.
“The scale of BP’s loss, its worst performance for two decades, had taken the market by surprise but Shell flagged up that it would report a massive drop in profits two weeks ago. The fall in profits was the steepest for 13 years and the group also confirmed that it will cut 10,000 jobs. Shell cut operating costs by 10%, around $4bn, last year and plans to make savings of a further $3bn this year.
“Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) caught a chill in early trading with its shares down after it warned that this year’s profits will be hit by the expiry of its patent on anti-cholesterol drug Crestor.
“Heavyweight miners dominated the top of the blue-chip board in early trading. Anglo American (LSE:AAL), Glencore (LSE:GLEN), BHP Billiton (LSE:BLT), Antofagasta (LSE:ANTO) and Rio Tinto (LSE:RIO) locked out the top five spots following a rise in commodity prices.”
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