The FTSE 100 is up by 0.7% at mid-morning trading breaking past 7,000 on a busy day for corporate news in the UK.
“Oil major Shell eked out modest gains suggesting investors had already largely priced its return to profit off the back of higher oil prices,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“Continuing strong numbers out of the US technology sector, together with the US Federal Reserve’s latest attempts to allay fears of any imminent rate rise, laid the foundations for the FTSE 100 to mount its latest assault on the 7,000 level,” Mould added.
FTSE 100 Top Movers
Smith and Nephew (5.02%), Standard Chartered (4.37%) and Unilever (3.27%) are the top risers on the FTSE 100 so far this morning.
While Natwest (-3.73%), RELX (-2.05%) and Evraz (-1.13%) have made the biggest losses on the UK index.
Natwest
Natwest has confirmed a dramatic increase in its profits as it joined other banks in getting back money initially allocated to covering bad loans. The part state-owned bank said its profits before tax rose by 82% to £946m for Q1 as £102m of funds were released.
The FTSE 100 bank also said that support given out by the government was ensuring that businesses are not defaulting on their loans.
Shell
Shell announced on Thursday that its profits rose during Q1 as the oil giant recovered from the pandemic-induced downturn through a recovery in energy consumption and prices.
Profits at the Anglo-Dutch FTSE 100 company increased by 13% to $3.2bn compared to the same period the year before. As a result, Shell made the decision to increase its quarterly dividend by 4% thanks to its improvement in trading. Following the announcement Shell shares are up by 1.37% in mid-morning trading.
