FTSE 100 inches up on oil boost; Eurowag falls in London debut

The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 rose 0.1% by 0820 GMT, with BP and Royal Dutch Shell climbing 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively. Czech's Eurowag — which initially planned to float on Thursday — dropped some 9.3% to 136 pence, falling below its offer price at 150 pence per share. The domestically focussed mid-cap index rose 0.1%, with travel stocks leading gains with a jump of 1%.

UK stocks stayed afloat on Friday, helped by heavyweight energy and banking stocks, while shares of trucking services firm Eurowag fell in their London market debut after floating a day late and at a cut-price. The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 rose 0.1% by 0820 GMT, with BP and Royal Dutch Shell climbing 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively.

Czech's Eurowag — which initially planned to float on Thursday — dropped some 9.3% to 136 pence, falling below its offer price at 150 pence per share. "There is usually a significant amount of volatility immediately after trading begins with IPOs. So, volatility in itself is not unusual and (Eurowag) shares have fallen, given that the offer price came in below the initial range indicating that demand was rather subdued," said Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Europe's initial public offering market had its strongest third quarter in a decade, though rising bond yields and talk of monetary policy easing has somewhat soured market sentiment. The domestically focussed mid-cap index rose 0.1%, with travel stocks leading gains with a jump of 1%. Britain was set to scrap tough COVID-19 quarantine requirements for 47 destinations.

However, UK mid-caps were set for a fifth straight weekly loss and their worst losing streak in a week since December 2018, as inflation worries weighed. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index has risen about 9.8% so far this year on support from accommodative central bank policies, strong quarterly corporate performance, and re-opening optimism. Among stocks, Weir Group fell 6.2% after saying it was the target of an attempted ransomware attack in the second half of September, which impacted its third-quarter profit.

 

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