LONDON (AFP) — London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares gained 0.33 percent to 5,846.80 points on Wednesday, lifted by heavyweight energy shares which benefited from oil prices trading close to record highs, traders said.
BP's share price leapt 3.22 percent to 601.75 pence and Royal Dutch Shell gained 3.03 percent to 2,110 pence.
Royal Bank of Scotland shed 2.14 percent to 228.25 pence, however, after Britain's second biggest bank issued a cautious trading update, dealers said.
RBS slid 2.14 percent to 228.25 pence after it said that its earnings were forecast to remain "satisfactory" excluding write-downs connected to the global credit crunch.
The bank said write-downs were expected to remain within its estimates. In April, RBS had revealed pre-tax write-downs of 5.9 billion pounds related to the credit crunch.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
