FTSE 100 ends at record high, boosted by oil and earnings

(Reuters) -London's FTSE 100 index closed at a record high on Thursday, lifted by oil stocks and positive results from blue-chip firms such as the London Stock Exchange Group and Rentokil.

The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 index rose as much as 0.8% to a record high of 9,594.82 points during the session, before ending up 0.7%.

Oil majors Shell and BP gained 3.2% and 3.8% respectively, as crude prices rose nearly 5% after the U.S. imposed sanctions on major Russian suppliers Rosneft and Lukoil over the Ukraine war. [O/R]

On the earnings front, the London Stock Exchange Group jumped 6.7% after the exchange operator said it would sell 20% of its post-trade services business, announced a surprise 1 billion pound ($1.34 billion) buyback and reported better-than-expected third-quarter results.

Rentokil jumped 9.8% after the pest control firm reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly organic revenue.

A largely upbeat earnings season, a jump in commodity stocks and signs of cooling inflation that supported bets of a Bank of England interest rate cut have supported UK equity markets this week. The FTSE 100 is on track for its best weekly performance since mid-April.

The FTSE midcap index of domestically oriented stocks rose 0.6%, ending at a near four-year high.

An index of UK precious metal miners advanced 3.7%, tracking gold prices, as U.S. sanctions against Russia and possible new export controls on China stoked geopolitical concerns, buoying demand for safe-haven assets. [GOL/]

On the downside, Holiday Inn owner InterContinental Hotels dipped 1.5% as slowing growth in U.S. markets overshadowed a rise in a key revenue metric. 

Molten Ventures jumped 14.6% to the top of the FTSE 250 after the VC firm forecast 7.2% growth in its net asset value.

AJ Bell fell 2.4% to the bottom of FTSE 250 after the investment platform reported outflows of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.01 billion) at the end of September in its advised platform segment, resulting in lower sequential net inflows.

(Reporting by Avinash P in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Andrew Heavens)