The FTSE 100 rose on Tuesday in a broad rally which saw most sectors gain.
Oil shares were a significant contributor to the FTSE 100 in terms of points following the decision by OPEC to not lift production, sending oil prices higher.
“OPEC’s decision not to lift production volumes gave oil prices a lift into Tuesday, helping the FTSE 100 to solid gains as index heavyweights BP and Shell gushed higher,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
BP shares were up 1.45% and Shell added 1.2%.
Ocado shares were the top riser on Tuesday lunchtime, gaining some 2.9%, as investors continued to bet that the takeover activity in UK grocers wasn’t over after Morrisons received final offers from US Private Equity.
Sainsbury’s was also higher after gaining 5% yesterday on speculation it could be the next target.
Facebook Outage
The gains in London came despite a rocky night on Wall Street as the Facebook outage caused volatility in tech shares.
Facebook services including WhatsApp and Instagram suffered prolonger downtime and investors took this as an opportunity to reduce positions in tech stocks that are fairly highly valued after a long bull run.
“This followed a tech-led sell-off in the US overnight as investors turned away from the likes of Apple, Amazon and, perhaps most notably, Facebook which had a pretty terrible day on Monday,’ said Russ Mould
“First it faced damaging allegations from a company whistleblower then it saw a lengthy outage on its eponymous social media app as well as its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.
“After Beijing took its own technology sector to task in 2021, could 2022 see Washington follow suit with tighter regulation?
“A cocktail of risks is brewing for the US market around not just the tech sector but also the debt ceiling and stalled spending plans as political in-fighting continues.”
Despite giving up ground on Monday, Facebook shares were set to open higher on Tuesday.