FTSE stages rally after early slump

The London market staged a fightback after political unrest in Libya and sky-high oil prices had earlier rattled confidence.

Wall Street was closed for a public holiday on Monday and as investors caught up on events in North Africa the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell more than 1%.

London’s FTSE 100 Index slumped more than 70 points early on but recovered lost ground to later stand 4.6 points higher at 6019.5.

Sentiment was initially dampened by a poor session in Asia as investors were hit by rating agency Moody’s decision to downgrade the outlook on Japan’s credit rating for the first time in nearly nine years.

Oil prices remained near two-and-a-half-year highs as fears continued to mount over world oil supplies on concerns that Libya’s crude exports of 1 million barrels a day could be affected as foreign oil companies evacuate staff from the country. Brent crude for April delivery hit more than 108 US dollars a barrel and light, sweet crude rose to 96.6 dollars a barrel.

Better-than-expected UK borrowing figures offered limited support to stocks, despite a £3.7 billion surplus for Britain’s public finances in January thanks to a bumper tax haul.

Airline and travel stocks were particularly hard hit on fuel cost worries, with the merged British Airways and Iberia group International Consolidated Airlines down nearly 2% or 4.6p to 234.9p, with easyJet down 14.2p to 362.8p in the FTSE 250 Index. Tour operators were also under pressure, with Thomson parent TUI Travel down 3.4p to 242.4p and second tier counterpart Thomas Cook falling 5.6p to 192.4p.

Miners were among those hit the most in the sell-off, led by Lonmin and Kazakhmys down 6p to 1835p and 10.35p to 1441.6p respectively. Oil giant BP benefited from surging oil prices and confirmation of its second deal in as many days as it revealed plans to sell several assets in the UK. Shares edged ahead 1.3p to 492.8p.

Property firms lost earlier gains sparked by Hammerson’s news on Monday of a 11% rise in underlying 2010 profits to £144.5 million. Brent Cross owner Hammerson dipped 2.4p at 452.8p, while Land Securities lost 0.1p to 735.3p.

Elsewhere, car dealership group Pendragon shed 0.5p to 23p, after cost cuts helped it more than double annual underlying profits in 2010 to £25.2 million.