FTSE 100 gains as oil price leaps after attacks on Saudi facilities

Oil price rise could feed through to petrol forecourts

(PA)

The FTSE 100 index rose today after the oil price jumped after attacks on Saudi Arabia energy facilities.

Brent crude jumped nearly 3% to $71.38 a barrel - surging through the $70 mark for the first time in 14 months - after Saudi said its energy facilities at Ras Tanura and Dhahran had come under attack.

Shares in BP and Shell both jumped more than 1.5% in early trading, pulling up the FTSE 32.78 points to 6664.94.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi fighters claimed responsibility for the Saudi attacks, which spooked oil markets despite apparently having no impact on oil production.

Oil prices have been rising steadily in recent months as hopes of a wide ranging economic recovery boosted demand expectations and Opec has remained disciplined on not upping output dramatically.

Some investors were being wary of the widening implications for counterparties of Greensill’s financial troubles. Concerns are rising that the invoice financing group’s potential collapse will spread losses to other companies beyond Credit Suisse and Greensill’s major steelmaking client GFG Alliance.

Germany’s BaFin froze Greensill’s Bremen account last week and filed a criminal complaint while the Financial Times today reported the European Central Bank had asked banks across Europe to provide details of outstanding loans both to Greensill and GFG, in order to gauge the implications. Their initial instincts, however, appear not to be overly concerned.

City investors opposed to Neil Woodford’s attempts to raise new funds after overseeing one of the biggest fund management scandals in recent memory will be reassured by reports stating that Jersey regulators will not welcome him back.

Woodford, whose fund collapses left hundreds of thousands of investors unable to access their money, had been planning to launch a new fund in Jersey, but the local regulator today told the FT it could not be a “back door” to restart his career.

The Jersey Financial Services Commission chief Martin Moloney said: “Anyone who gets off a plane thinking that Jersey is a soft touch has wasted the price of the ticket.

“Jersey is not the place to come if you are trying to get around UK regulation.”

Jersey has attracted 750 collective investment funds with £378 billion under management but says it “actively considers” the impact businesses there have on their home jurisdictions.

Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered may see its shares come under strutiny after reports suggesting internal tensions over the ethics and reputational threat of banking Chinese state entities accused of human rights violations. Reports suggested a meeting recently at the top of the bank had debated how its work in China could live up to its “here for good” mantra.

Many staff were reportedly upset when Standard Chartered praised the national security law clamping down on Hong Kong liberties.

European markets were expected to make a strong start to trading, with CMC Markets analysts pointing out that even while the US wobbled last week, shares on this side of the Atlantic held fairly firm.

Friday saw US stocks bounce back after strong data on the jobs market but Asian stocks had a mixed session today.