Encouraging US jobs data and earnings cheer on Wall Street has helped the FTSE 100 Index overcome initial losses sparked by the Libya and oil price crisis.
A more resilient start to trading on America’s Dow Jones industrial average helped the Footsie claw its way back from early session losses of 60 points to stand 6.1 points higher at 5929.6.
Investors were buoyed by news that jobless claims dropped by 22,000 to 391,000 last week, while a number of US firms such as Heinz delivered good news on earnings.
But oil prices remained a concern as the unrest in Libya continued.
Light sweet crude edged closer to 100 US dollars a barrel, while Brent crude stood at 114.3 dollars a barrel, having been as high as 119 dollars earlier on supply fears.
IG Index trader Will Hedden said the unrest had put a stop to 500,000 barrels of oil production per day and alarmed investors and businesses alike.
He added: “Further price increases are likely to put a serious dent in the global economic recovery and could, in a worst case scenario, potentially kick-start double-dip recessions on both sides of the Atlantic.”
In a busy session for corporate results, part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland fell 3% or 1.3p to 46p as losses of £1.1 billion came in higher than market expectations, offsetting comments from chief executive Stephen Hester that the bank’s five-year turnaround plan remained on track.
Lloyds Banking Group, which is due to post profits of around £2 billion in results on Friday, dropped 0.3p to 65.2p.
Centrica regained its poise after a shaky start, up 0.6p to 335.7p, as it reported a 29% jump in profits to £2.4 billion, a performance that included a record surplus of £742 million from its British Gas residential arm.
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