The pre-Christmas rally for the FTSE 100 Index continued today despite the impact of lower oil prices on heavyweight energy stocks.
The price of Brent crude fell back to 60 US dollars a barrel amid signs that Saudi Arabia is focused on maintaining its market share rather than cutting back production.
Exploration firm BG Group was the biggest faller in the top flight, with a decline of 2% or 15.9p to 870.2p. Tullow Oil was off 0.8p at 406.2p.
The picture was brighter across the rest of the London market, with the FTSE 100 Index 40.2 points higher at 6614.7 in the last full trading session before Christmas.
A rebound for Tesco shares saw the supermarket lift 2% or 3.6p to 184.6p, while rival Morrisons was 2.7p higher at 178.7p.
The first day of trading for Indivior, the pharmaceuticals business spun out of consumers products business Reckitt Benckiser, saw its shares jump by 22% or 26.45p to 146.45p. Reckitt was 32.5p lower at 5277.5p.
Meanwhile, chocolate maker Thorntons slumped 24% – off 30.5p to 87.7p – after it warned that its earnings will fall this year because of reduced demand from some supermarkets in the run-up to Christmas.
In October it told the market that it expected to meet full-year pre-tax profit forecasts of £9.65 million for the year to June, up almost a third from £7.5 million in its last financial year.
However it now expects profits for the current period will fail to grow after a “significant reduction” in demand from some supermarkets.