Markets: Oil price brake keeps lid on the FTSE

Oil firms kept the FTSE 100 index in check yesterday as the US and UK governments took action to put the breaks on soaring crude prices.

The joint move to release strategic reserves in the name of economic growth caused the price of Brent in London to dip nearly 1 per cent to $123.4 a barrel.

The news sent Cairn Energy sliding 4.9p at 331.4p, while BG Group dipped 14p to 1,527p. BP lost more than 1 per cent, down 6.5p at 620.5p. The Footsie closed 4.7 points lower at 5,940.7 despite the boost given to markets by upbeat jobs figures in the US, which revealed unemployment benefit claims hit a four-year low in February. Next was one of the leading top flight risers after Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its price target to 2,900p from 2,750p ahead of the company’s full-year results next week.

Next shares were up 74p to 2,901p, a rise of nearly 3 per cent, while Marks & Spencer continued to benefit from a more-optimistic note on the retail sector from JP Morgan Cazenove on Wednesday. M&S was up 4.3p to 375.1p while, outside the top flight, PC World and Currys owner Dixons Retail Group lifted 0.8p to 15.97p and Simply Be catalogue firm N Brown added 5.2p to 238.5p.

Struggling retailer Game Group continued its recovery, a day after an approach from Comet owner OpCapita. The shares lifted nearly 65 per cent, albeit to a still modest 3.45p.

NEW YORK: The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed above 1,400

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 58.66 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 13,252.76. The S&P 500 advanced 8.32 points, or 0.60 per cent, to 1,402.60 at the close and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 15.64 points, or 0.51 per cent, to close at 3,056.37.