Market round-up: Miners drag FTSE and European stocks higher as oil prices rebound

UK and European stocks ended the week on a strong note, with investors buoyed by a rebound in oil prices which saw Brent crude hit a seven-week high early in the session, while miners dragged benchmarks higher across the region.

London's FTSE 100 closed up 1.38% to 6,096.01, followed into positive territory by its European counterparts, as France's CAC 40 and Germany's Dax gained 1.56% and 1.95% respectively, while the Pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 1.53%.

Brent crude rose to $36.84 (£26.41, €33.73) a barrel earlier in the session, its highest level since 5 January before surrendering some of the gains and trading at $36.37 a barrel, up 2.97% from the previous day's close, while West Texas Intermediate rose 2.07% to $33.77 a barrel.

Miners were on the front foot, with Glencore and Anglo American among the top five risers on London's blue chip index, while Burberry gained ground after analysts at Nomura upgraded its rating on the luxury brand stock to "buy" from "neutral" and lifted the price target to 1,500p from 1,450p.

Shares in London Stock Exchange Group were firmly in positive territory after Deutsche Borse revealed the company to be formed from the proposed merger between the two firms would be headquartered in London, though it warned the plan could be jeopardised if Britain votes in favour of leaving the European Union.

At the other end of the scale, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) plunged after posting a £1.98bn loss over the year to 31 December 2015, marking its eighth consecutive year of losses, and revealing was forced to put aside £3.6bn for litigation chargesand settlements.

Meanwhile, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways, fell despite posting a sharp increase in annual profit in 2015 and forecasting similar growth for 2016 on the back of low oil prices.

"In London the only real black spot is RBS, which is still down over 7% for the day, as investors find new ways to be disappointed with this perennial underperformer," said IG's senior market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"IAG's near 4% decline is only really a symptom of the rally in the share price, which had seen them gain almost 20% from the low of the month. It was always going to be difficult to live up to expectations, even if patient shareholders have finally been rewarded with a dividend."

Among FTSE 250 stocks, Tullow Oil, Petrofac and Amec Foster Wheeler all benefited from the rebound in oil prices, while property portal Rightmove fell despite posting an increase in annual profits and revenue.

FTSE 100 – Top 5 risers

Standard Chartered +7.96%
Glencore +7.53%
Burberry Group +7.46%
London Stock Exchange +7.06%
Anglo American +7.01%

FTSE 100 - Top 5 fallers

Royal Bank of Scotland -7.25%
Coca-Cola HBC -3.19%
International Consolidated Airlines -2.86%
Severn Trent -1.53%
Randgold Resources -1.16%

FTSE 250 - Top 5 risers

Tullow Oil +11.30%
Petrofac Ltd. +8.37%
International Personal Finance +8.35%
Amec Foster Wheeler +7.49%
Ophir Energy +7.31%

FTSE 250 - Top 5 fallers

Genus -5.00%
Allied Minds -4.25%
Rightmove -3.93%
Dignity -3.06%
Acacia Mining -1.85%