UK energy stocks, including BP Plc and Shell Transport & Trading Co, climbed after oil reached a new high as worsening violence in Iraq threatened to disrupt supplies.
WPP Group Plc, the world's second-largest advertising and marketing company, declined after saying "concerns remain" about economic growth in the US next year.
The benchmark FTSE 100 added 6.60, or 0.2 percent, to 4,369.20 in London. The index rose 1.6 percent since last Friday, and posted its first weekly gain in three. The FTSE All-Share Index rose 2.83, or 0.1 percent, to 2,169.76.
"What's there not to like about oil stocks?" asked Richard Lewis, who oversees US$1 billion in European stocks at New Star Asset Management. "We like oil stocks. There are earnings upgrades coming through."
Crude-oil futures surpassed US$49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, on concern that fighting between US forces and followers of Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will cut shipments.
BP, Europe's biggest oil company, advanced 2.5 pence, or 0.5 percent, to 489.5
Shell, which owns 40 percent of Royal Dutch/Shell, added 5 pence, or 1.3 percent, to 401. It also benefited from a broker upgrade after Merrill Lynch & Co advised investors to buy the stock, citing the possibility of future asset sales and planned investments.
WPP, dropped 6.5 pence, or 1.3 percent, to 488 after Chief Executive Officer Martin Sorrell said "concerns remain" about prospects for the US economy after November's presidential elections. WPP got about 40 percent of its revenue from the US last year.
"WPP's outlook on consumer spending for 2005 is a bit disappointing," said Grahame Exton, part of a team managing the equivalent of about US$921 million at Tilney Investment Management in Liverpool, England.
The company earlier said first-half profit rose 11 percent, boosted by demand in the US and Asia.
"There's a hint of caution when you trawl through WPP's earnings statement," said Exton.
The following stocks made significant gains or losses in London. Symbols are in parentheses after the company name.
British Airways Plc, Europe's second-largest airline, slipped 1.5 pence, or 0.7 percent, to 212.25. The airline today resumed pay talks with unions as the carrier tries to avert strikes by 11,000 baggage handlers and check-in staff next week.
CMS WebView Plc, a real-time financial information provider, jumped 0.75 pence, or 12 percent, to 7. The company said the Chicago Board of Trade, the world's biggest market for Treasury futures, will extend a data agreement.
The Chicago exchange will use CMS's TDI software to distribute market data from the Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, the company said.
FirstGroup Plc, the UK's second-largest bus and train company, added 2.5 pence, or 0.9 percent, to 297.25 after it signed a seven-year contract to run the Scottish Passenger Rail franchise.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
AI: Softbank’s stake increases in Nvidia and TSMC reflect Masayoshi Son’s effort to gain a foothold in key nodes of the AI value chain, from chip design to data infrastructure Softbank Group Corp is building up stakes in Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the latest reflection of founder Masayoshi Son’s focus on the tools and hardware underpinning artificial intelligence (AI). The Japanese technology investor raised its stake in Nvidia to about US$3 billion by the end of March, up from US$1 billion in the prior quarter, regulatory filings showed. It bought about US$330 million worth of TSMC shares and US$170 million in Oracle Corp, they showed. Softbank’s signature Vision Fund has also monetized almost US$2 billion of public and private assets in the first half of this year,
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