FTSE 100 Eyes First Win in Four As Oil, Miners Rise; Royal Mail Drops

U.K. stocks rose Tuesday, with gains for the embattled resources-sector leading the FTSE 100 toward its first win in four sessions.

The FTSE 100 UKX, +1.20% rose 0.7% to 6,702.32, with shares of Tullow Oil PLC TLW, +5.24% rising 4.8% to become the strongest advancer on the benchmark.

Tullow shares had tumbled nearly 22% since Thursday as part of a broader selloff in the oil sector after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries held to its production target. That decision was a disappointment to investors, who had looked to the group to address oversupply and a related slide in prices.

Also higher, oil firm BG Group PLC BG., +2.74% climbed 3.3%, Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSB, +2.42% tacked on 2.2% and BP PLC BP., +2.47% gained 2%.

Oil prices turned higher on Monday, but were back in negative territory on Tuesday, with New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for January delivery CLF5, -1.00% down 0.4% at $68.79 in electronic dealings.

Mining stocks were also higher, getting a break from recent selling as the industry grapples with slowing in the Chinese economy and a slump in iron-ore prices. Shares of Anglo American PLC AAL, +2.38% rose 3.5%, and Rio Tinto PLC RIO, +2.06% RIO, -0.09% RIO, +2.24% was pushed 2.2% higher.

Friends Life Group Ltd. FLG, +5.30% shares bounced up 2.8% after the company and Aviva PLC AV., +2.71% agreed on a 5.6 billion pound ($8.8 billion) deal that would create the U.K.’s largest insurance, savings and asset-management company. Aviva shares were up 0.2%.

But shares of Royal Mail PLC RMG, -2.77% fell 1.8% after regulator Ofcom said it won’t impose new conditions on Royal Mail’s direct-delivery competitors as the “universal postal service is not currently under threat.”

Source: MarketWatch