Commodity stocks boost UK shares to near seven-week high

By Anisha Sircar

(Reuters) -UK’s FTSE 100 hit its highest level in nearly seven weeks on Tuesday as commodity stocks rallied ahead of a key U.S. Federal Reserve verdict, while BP turned choppy after hitting a 2-1/2 year high following its results.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 jumped 1.6%, while the domestically oriented FTSE 250 rose 1.6%.

Shares of BP pared early gains to trade down 0.7%. The oil giant said it had more than doubled its quarterly profit to $8.15 billion year-on-year amid calls to increase taxes on the energy sector.

“This phenomenal quarter of earnings isn’t going to ease calls for windfall taxes at a time when governments are facing fiscal black holes requiring difficult decisions on taxation and spending,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

UK’s energy and mining shares climbed 1.0% and 3.9%, respectively, tracking stronger commodity prices. [O/R] [MET/L]

The FTSE 100 last month marked its first monthly rise in three, recouping some of the sharp losses from earlier in October after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reversed almost all of former PM Liz Truss’s economic plans.

“October proved to be a much better month after the disastrous performance over Q3, aided by hopes of a pivot from central banks, stabilisation in Europe’s energy situation and an end to UK market turmoil, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves,” strategists at Deutsche Bank wrote in a note.

Focus was on U.S. and UK policy decisions on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, with both central banks expected to raise rates by 75 basis points.

British house prices in October recorded their first monthly fall since July 2021, declining 0.9%, as the market was hit by turmoil during Truss’s short-lived premiership.

Ocado Group jumped 32.7% after the online supermarket group announced a partnership deal with Lotte Shopping.

(Reporting by Anisha Sircar and Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)