London markets rise over Russian plans ‘to scale back military activity’

The FTSE climbed on Tuesday on claims that Russia is scaling back operations around Kyiv and an end to a recent rally in oil prices.

Moscow said it would make the move after “meaningful” peace talks in Istanbul, although traders continued to take the comments with a pinch of salt.

London’s top-flight index ended the day up 64.11 points, or 0.86%, at 7,537.25 points.

The other major European markets were also positive, with French banks driving a sharp improvement in the Cac 40.

The Cac was up 3.08% and the German Dax had increased 0.22% by the end of the session.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “European markets rallied hard on hopes of some kind of deal being hammered out that allows both sides to save face, and oil prices dropped on hopes that supply will recover, although it is unlikely that sanctions will end soon given western wariness about rushing back to normal relations with Putin.

“The economic outlook is still not promising, either, and with US earnings season looming there is still doubt that equities can hold on to their recent gains.”

In the US, the main markets opened higher after the latest US consumer confidence data increased beyond expectations.

The price of oil had another volatile session, with the situation in Ukraine adding to concerns that Shanghai lockdown measures could impact demand.

Brent crude dropped by 2.95% to 109.16 US dollars per barrel when the London markets closed.

Sterling’s recent rally lost steam as it dropped against a dollar boosted by positive economic figures.

The pound decreased by 0.14% against the dollar to 1.311, and also fell 0.14% against the euro to 1.181.

In company news, Barclays was once again a heavy loser on the FTSE after one of the bank’s biggest investors sold an almost £900 million stake hours after it confirmed on Monday that a blunder could cost it £450 million.

The disposal, which was completed overnight, saw the unnamed seller offload roughly 575 million shares at 150p per share.

The company’s stock dropped by 4.04p to 156.44p at the close of play as a result.

Housebuilder Bellway saw shares drop after it revealed a further bill for high-rise fire safety works and cautioned over cost pressures amid the Ukraine conflict.

Company shares fell by 107p to 2,493p as it warned surging inflation could be compounded by the Russian invasion in an update also highlighting a 9.8% increase in profits for the past six months.

Chemicals giant Croda International made gains after it laid out plans to reach £1 billion of sales through its consumer care business by 2025. Shares finished 370p higher at 7,894p.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Melrose Industries, up 9.3p to 133.8p, Ocado, up 77p to 1,166.5p, IAG, up 9.58p to 149.5p, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, up 64p to 1,072.5p, and CocaCola HBC, up 92p to 336.6p.

The biggest fallers were Glencore, down 19p to 480.65p, BAE Systems, down 19p to 713p, Barclays, down 4p to 156.44p, BP, down 10p to 371.35p, and Anglo American, down 95p to 3,801p.