The FTSE 100 surged on Thursday morning as rising oil prices lifted commodity stocks and shares in Barclays (BARC) hit a nine-year high after impressive quarterly results.
The price of Brent crude jumped 1.4% to $76 (£58.65) a barrel as geopolitical tensions continue to increase.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said higher-than-expected US oil inventories were not enough to offset ‘uncertainty in the Middle East, where further strikes on Beirut and Tel-Aviv highlight the challenges US secretary of state has to scale if he is to broker a ceasefire on his visit to the region in the face of continued value destruction’.
