Stock markets in UK outperformed European peers on Monday, with new investment in BT helping to give London’s top index a boost.
The FTSE 100 moved 42.15 points higher, or 0.52%, to close at 8,210.25 on Monday.
Miners Antofagasta and Glencore and energy firms Centrica and BP were among the day’s biggest risers after another day of rising oil prices.
The price of Brent crude gained more than 1% to top 80 US dollars per barrel, with experts putting it down to renewed fears over escalating tensions in the Middle East involving Iran and Israel, which could result in restricted supply.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst for IG, said: “Oil has surged to its highest level in over a week as expectations of an Iranian strike on Israel rise once more.
“The risk had appeared to recede last week, or at least had been pushed back, but an attack is on the cards once more, powering oil’s move higher from last week’s two-month low.”
Shares in BT soared by more than 8% after it announced that Bharti Global had entered into an agreement to buy French media giant Altice’s 9.99% stake in the firm.
The Indian conglomerate is poised to take a further 14.51% stake when it gets the approval of regulators and clearance from the UK Government.
Allison Kirkby, BT’s chief executive, described the scale of investment as a “great vote of confidence in the future of BT Group and our strategy”.
For other top stock markets in Europe, it was a weaker day of trading. In Paris the Cac 40 closed 0.26% lower and in Frankfurt the Dax edged up by 0.02%.
It was also a subdued start to trading in the US, where the S&P 500 was down about 0.05% and Dow Jones 0.4% lower by the time European markets closed.
The pound was up about 0.1% against the US dollar at 1.27, and down around 0.05% against the euro at 1.1685.
In other company news, shares in Marshalls dipped after the building materials firm said its sales dropped by 13% over the first half of the year, compared with the same period a year earlier.
It said the slump was largely driven by its landscape products business, which was dragged down by low levels of new-build housing and reduced spending on home improvements. Shares in Marshalls closed 2.1% lower.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were BT, up 11p to 141.5p, Entain, up 22.2p to 580.4p, Centrica, up 4.05p to 127.3p, BAE Systems, up 26p to 1303.5p, and Endeavour Mining, up 29p to 1567p.
The biggest fallers were JD Sports, down 5.1p to 120.35p, B&M European, down 10.1p to 444.6p, Burberry, down 13.8p to 671p, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, down 36p to 2002p, and Whitbread, down 41p to 2814p.
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