Oil market taps into vaccine positivity

In London, equity markets rose solidly as investors continued to rotate away from lockdown winners and into neglected energy, aviation and travel stocks.

BP and Royal Dutch Shell both jumped against the improving demand backdrop, with the former closing up 21.4p at 274.8p.

Shell rose 73.4p to £13.26, with the two giving the FTSE 100 a strong upwards pull.

At the opposite end of the scale, shares in JD Sports fell 52.8p to 760p following reports that the group is considering a bid for struggling department store Debenhams.

A lack of M&A updates put a dampener on water group Pennon’s first-half results. It fell 39.8p to 964.2p despite a solid bottom line, with Morgan Stanley analysts saying they were still awaiting information on how Pennon plans to spend the £1.7bn in profit made from the sale of Viridor, its waste management business.

Among mid-caps, Royal Mail rose 6p to 303p after being awarded a multimillion-pound contract to deliver Covid home testing kits seven days a week, as ministers prepare to ramp up capacity in the coming weeks.

The award, part of Boris Johnson’s “Operation Moonshot”, marks a key victory for Royal Mail in its battle with Amazon to spearhead mass testing.

AO World, one of lockdown’s biggest winners, dropped 41.5p to 378p as investors took profits following a virus-induced sale surge for the white goods retailer.

Its share price has more than tripled so far this year.