Market report: Oil giants hold blue-chip index steady

Hot on its heels was BT, which jumped 8.1p to 106.1p after Berenberg raised its outlook for the group’s shares.

In a note to clients, analyst Carl Murdock-Smith wrote that sentiment about the telecoms group was “on its knees”, but added “its significant under-performance and scope for improved sentiment over the next year” made it a “buy”.

The FTSE 250 outperformed its blue-chip peers, led by airline easyJet – which rose 44.4p to 551.6p after outlining plans to increase its flight schedule in response to high levels of demand.

Royal Mail also jumped, up 12.7p to 181.1p, as the “Czech Sphinx”, billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, further raised his stake in the group.

The investor’s position in the postal service, which now stands at 13.1pc, has raised speculation that he may turn activist. Schroders is Royal Mail’s only larger shareholder, with a 13.9pc stake.

Insurer Direct Line climbed 16.4p to 324p after bumping its dividend slightly higher despite a fall in profits during the first half of the year.

The FTSE 250 group will pay 7.4p per share to investors, versus last year’s 7.2p.

Babcock was the biggest mid-cap faller, dropping 27.2p to 261.8p. The defence engineer scrapped its final dividend after profits sank due to Covid-19. Ruth Cairnie, the company’s chairman, said it “will resume dividend payments at the earliest opportunity”.