LONDON MARKETS: BP, Shell Stocks Rally While FTSE 100 Slips

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

The heavy exposure of the U.K. to the energy sector was on display on Monday, as the FTSE 100 outperformed most global benchmarks in wake of the attacks on Saudi Arabia that has taken half of its production offline.

BP (BP.LN) rose 5% and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA.LN) gained 3% to limit the FTSE 100's losses to just 0.3% to 7,343, or roughly half the decline of the major German and French indexes.

Other oil plays rose even more, with Premier Oil (PMO.LN) surging nearly 10% and John Wood Group (WG.LN), an engineering-service company, gaining 7%.

The financial sector by contrast skidded, with HSBC (HSBA.LN) losing 1.7% and (BARC.LN) falling 2.2% on the possible economic consequences.

Elsewhere, the London Stock Exchange (LSE.LN) fell 3.1% as investors don't seem in a hurry to engage with the Hong Kong exchange's offer to buy the U.K. exchange. Royal London Asset Management, which holds about 1% of the LSE, said it preferred the LSE's plan to buy data firm Refinitiv, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 16, 2019 09:53 ET (13:53 GMT)

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