London’s blue chip index continued to hover near the 7,500-mark, supported by stronger commodity prices and a drop in the pound after fresh polls showed Conservatives losing steam ahead of the General Election.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.4% or 30 points at 7,501.5 in morning trading, raising the prospects of another all-time record close after reaching 7,522.03 last week.
It was buoyed by a weaker pound, which tends to boost multinational stocks with foreign incomes on London’s top flight index.
Sterling was down 0.4% against the US dollar at 1.298 and dropped nearly 0.1% versus the euro to 1.162, after an opinion poll showed a sharp fall in the Tories’ lead over Labour since the parties published their manifestos last week.
The Survation survey for ITV’s Good Morning Britain showed the Conservatives on 43%, down five points on the previous week and nine points ahead of Labour who are up five on 34%.
Kathleen Brooks, a research director at City Index, said a weakening of the pound on the back of the poll was not surprising, given an assumed Tory victory has helped pushed the pound up 500 points versus the US dollar since the snap election was announced last month.
“A landslide from May soothed pound traders as it removed the prospect of a rushed Brexit deal to fit in with an election that otherwise would have been due in 2020.
“It also meant that Theresa May would have been handed a stronger mandate that could have silenced some of the harshest Brexiteers in the UK backbenchers that could have made negotiations with Europe a little easier for the Prime Minister.
“If these scenarios fail to develop, then the pound’s march above 1.30 could be disrupted, at least in the short term.
“We would expect to see a further retreat on Monday, potentially back to the 1.2860 support level for GBP/USD, the low from last week.”
The FTSE 100 was also supported by further gains in the oil market, with Brent crude hitting a four-and-a-half week high.
The global oil benchmark rose 0.5% to 54.05 US dollars per barrel, marking its highest level since mid-April, on hopes that this week’s Opec meeting in Vienna will result in an extension of production cuts into 2018.
Royal Dutch Shell’s ’B’ shares were up 10p at 2,175p, while BP rose 2.9p to 475.05p.
Across Europe, the French Cac and German Dax were hovering near the flatline, up 0.08% and 0.05%, respectively.
HSS Hire was up 0.75p at 54.4p as the tool supplier announced it had appointed Steve Ashmore as chief executive after John Gill stepped down last month.
Mr Ashmore, who previously sat as a director of industrial maintenance firm Brammer, will take up the role on June 1.
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