FTSE 100 outperforms peers as commodity prices rise

London’s FTSE 100 pushed higher on Wednesday after rising commodity prices lifted miners and drillers.

The index ended the day up 49 points, or 0.7%, ending at 6,939.58 as oil and metal giants dominated the top of the table.

Antofagasta, BHP, Anglo American, Shell and BP all crowded around the top spots, but an upgrade from Goldman Sachs analysts boosted Glencore most of all.

It came as the price of Brent crude oil climbed 4.2% to 66.34 dollars per barrel, while Goldman predicted that copper prices would boom in coming years because it is a vital component in clean energy technology.

The news helped set the commodity heavy London index ahead of many of its counterparts abroad. Germany’s main index, the Dax, lost 0.2% of its value, while the Cac in Paris gained 0.4%.

In New York, the Dow Jones gained 0.6%, while the S&P 500 added 0.1%. Even these indexes were influenced by Goldman, said Connor Campbell, an analyst at Spreadex.

“The markets had been looking sleepy earlier in the session. Well, that all changed once the US got involved,” he said.

“The main driver on Wall Street was Goldman Sachs, which rose 3.5% following a staggering 498% surge in Q1 earnings per share year-on-year to 18.60 dollar, lightyears ahead of the 10.22 dollar forecast.

“Those gains contributed significantly to the Dow’s 170-point climb, the index shooting to a fresh peak of 33,850.”

The FTSE 100’s rise came despite an increase in the value of the pound, by 0.3% to buy 1.3787 dollars, and 0.1% buying 1.1515 euros.

In company news, Tesco was left reeling at the bottom of the FTSE 100 after reporting a 20% drop in profits for the last financial year. Its shares fell 2%.

EasyJet shares rose 5.8% after the company said it was ready to ramp up summer services.

Ryanair also rose 2% despite a court rejecting its argument that aid from three European Governments gave to airlines was illegal.

British Land shares rose 0.4% as it said that it had collected 76% of the rent due at the end of the last quarter.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Glencore, up 15.6p to 302.5p, Antofagasta, up 77p to 1802.5p, BP, up 10.1p to 308.35p, BHP, up 70.5p to 2208p, and Shell ‘A’, up 43.2p to 1438.4p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Tesco, down 4.7p to 227.4p, Auto Trader, down 11.8p to 578.6p, Hargreaves Lansdown, down 31p to 1640p, B&M, down 10.2p to 539.8p, and Sage Group, down 10.8p to 641.8p.