Attempts by Saudi Arabia to calm fears of an oil-supply crisis have helped settle prices after crude soared to nearly 120 US dollars a barrel on Thursday.
The price of Brent crude fell back to 111 US dollars on Thursday night and settled at 112 US dollars on Friday morning after Opec’s biggest producer indicated that it was prepared to increase supplies in the face of the Libya turmoil.
London shares were expected to open moderately higher but with the London Stock Exchange suffering a technical issue there was no accurate data on the position of the FTSE 100 Index.
Lloyds Banking Group shares were down by an estimated 4% after it said the slower UK economy and higher funding costs will impact net interest margins.
The group, which is 41% owned by the taxpayer, reported pre-tax profits of £2.2 billion – a marked improvement on the £6.3 billion loss in 2009.
The bank’s bad debt losses narrowed in 2010 to £13 billion, from £23 billion the previous year, but it saw an increase in international impairment charges driven by the impact of the Irish debt crisis.
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