London stocks rebounded on Tuesday, lifted by gains for AstraZeneca, though held back by losses for energy companies as oil prices fell amid positive headlines on the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
The FTSE 100 index
UKX,
+0.66%
rose 0.8% to 7,589, with the pound unchanged at $1.3541. For the week, the index is down 0.9%.
U.S. stocks and global equities were in the throes of a rally on ebbing fears of a conflict breaking out between Ukraine and Russia, which has amassed 130,000 troops on the border of that country. A global rally was sparked after Russia said some units participating in military exercises would start returning to their bases. And with equity gains came sharp losses for oil prices
CL00,
-4.90%
NQ00,
+1.58%,
which fell back from 7-year highs.
That left shares of Shell
SHEL,
-2.67%
SHEL,
-2.56%
and BP
BP,
-2.55%
BP,
-1.94%
down by nearly 3% and 1.3%.
Elsewhere in the commodity sector, shares of Glencore
GLEN,
+0.92%
GLEN,
+0.92%
rose 1.3% after the commodity mining and trading group reported record adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $21.32 billion for 2021, a number that met market expectations.
But with precious and base metals prices falling — iron ore prices tumbled in Singapore on reports of a looming China crackdown over what it has deemed a crackdown in prices — other miners were under pressure. Heavyweight Anglo American
AAL,
-2.60%
dropped 3.5%, Fresnillo
FRES,
-3.45%
fell 3.8% and Rio Tinto
RIO,
-2.13%
RIO,
-2.13%
dropped 2.2%.
Elsewhere, shares of AstraZeneca
AZN,
+4.02%
AZN,
+4.80%
surged 5%, a top gainer in London after the pharmaceutical group said a Phase 3 trial of Lynparza plus abiraterone showed a 34% reduction in risk of disease progression in patients with prostate cancer.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/london-stocks-join-global-bounce-with-astrazeneca-leading-on-positive-drug-news-11644937652
