FTSE 100 gains after choppy week with oil stocks in lead

The domestically focussed mid-cap index advanced 0.6%, with airline stocks Wizz Air and Easyjet gaining 1.5% each. Chemicals company Victrex PLC added 2.2% after reporting a 46% rise in its pretax profit.

UK's FTSE 100 rose on Monday, driven by gains in oil stocks and AstraZeneca as investors assessed possible economic risks from the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant which had led to choppy trading last week. The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 index gained 0.6% by 0808 GMT, with oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell adding more than 1% each as crude prices jumped more than 2% after Saudi Arabia raised its crude prices.

Heavyweight AstraZeneca climbed 0.7% after a report quoted the drugmaker saying it had been studying listing of a new vaccines division. Homebuilder Taylor Wimpey added 1% following a report that activist investor Elliot Management had bought a stake in the company.

Britain's economy looks set to grow more slowly than previously thought this year and in 2023 due to global supply chain problems and the government must encourage longer-term business investment, said the Confederation of British industry. The domestically focussed mid-cap index advanced 0.6%, with airline stocks Wizz Air and Easyjet gaining 1.5% each.

Chemicals company Victrex PLC added 2.2% after reporting a 46% rise in its pretax profit.

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