MW: oil and gas firms lead gains for British shares
FTSE 100 index up 0.6%; BG Group shares advance, Rio Tinto also gains
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- British stocks advanced on Friday, the fifth straight day of gains for the index, helped by advances for oil firms and metal stocks.
Overall, the FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,142, -19.24, -0.37%) climbed 0.6%, or 33.78 points, to 5,195.24 while other European shares were also gaining ground.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a bit of a retracement on Friday following sharp gains for shares on Wall Street in the latest session. See Europe Markets.
Oil futures and metal futures were also retreating a bit on Friday, after gaining strongly in regular trading in New York on Friday.
"Not only did the crude-oil markets defy the stronger greenback on Thursday, but we also saw a spectacular surge in base metals, particularly in copper," said Edward Meir, energy analyst at MF Global.
"Receding Greek debt concerns helped the overall mood," he added.
On Thursday, European leaders said that they stood ready to help Greece if required although they didn't provide details of how they would do this.
Miners were leading the advance on the London Stock Exchange. Lonmin (UK:LMI 1,803, -6.00, -0.33%) shares were up 3%, Rio Tinto (UK:RIO 3,167, -59.00, -1.83%) (RTP 206.40, +7.20, +3.61%) shares were up 3% , Fresnillo (UK:FRES 719.50, -12.00, -1.64%) shares climbed 2.6% and Xstrata (UK:XTA 1,011, -20.50, -1.99%) shares were up 2.7%.
Following closely on the heel of the miners, oil and gas firms were also gaining, with natural-gas producer BG Group (UK:BG. 1,143, -0.50, -0.04%) up 1.3%.
Corporate news was thin on the ground on Friday although software firm Micro Focus (UK:MCRO 467.10, -5.20, -1.10%) edged up 0.4% after it said that its third-quarter performance was solid and its trading outlook remains in line with management expectations for its fiscal year.
"The customer pipeline for the fourth quarter is solid, and the board remains confident in the group's ability to deliver superior shareholder returns," said Chairman Kevin Loosemore.
Shares of card maker International Greetings (UK:IGR 61.52, +8.02, +14.99%) jumped 16.8%.
It said that its sales for the 10 months to Jan. 31 were in line with expectations and it expects to record fiscal-year pretax profit in line with expectations.
