Stronger oil and mining stocks ensured the London market maintained its lofty position today, despite jitters over the outcome of Greece debt talks.
The country’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis says he remains hopeful of a bailout deal, even though there have been few signs of progress in the discussions with EU finance ministers.
The Athens stock exchange fell by 5% and the FTSE 100 Index dropped 22 points at one stage before recovering to stand 14.2 points higher at 6871.8.
Agreement is needed by the end of the month if Greece is to avoid defaulting on its debt, potentially threatening its use of the euro currency. Markets in France and Germany were more cautious, with the Cac40 and Dax both lower.
The mood in London was helped by the UK’s latest inflation figures, which were in line with expectations following a decline in the annual rate to 0.3%.
This was the the lowest level for CPI since records began in 1989 and meant that a basket of goods and services costing £100 in January 2014 was just 30p more last month.
Economists expect the rate to turn negative in the coming months but signs of a recovery in the rate of core inflation ensured the pound strengthened against the US dollar to stand at just below 1.54.
The recent rise in the price of oil to more than 60 US dollars a barrel helped a number of London’s key top flight stocks, with Royal Dutch Shell ahead 21.5p to 2248.75p and BP 1.85p higher at 453.7p.
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