UKX FTSE 100 Index

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

U.K. blue-chip stocks advanced Tuesday, with well-received corporate updates and gains for oil producers helping the market's benchmark chip away at a sharp loss logged in the previous session.

The FTSE 100 index popped up 0.5% to 7,413,89, with only a few components in the red.

Among them, shares of Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN) fell 0.8% after the company's market share fell to 10.5% in the 12 weeks to July 16, according to Kantar.

Also catching attention in London trade was a $1.2 billion deal to buy luxury shoe maker Jimmy Choo (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/michael-kors-to-buy-shoemaker-jimmy-choo-in-12-billion-deal-2017-07-25-2915839)PLC (CHOO.LN) by fashion house Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (KORS) . Shares of Jimmy Choo jumped 17% to GBP2.28 off the FTSE 100.

Back on the benchmark, BP PLC (BP.LN) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) bulked up by 0.6% each as oil prices pushed higher. Oil futures were up (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-continues-to-gain-as-opec-raises-hopes-of-market-rebalancing-2017-07-25) after Saudi Arabia and Nigeria made fresh pledges to pull back on exports and output, raised expectations for greater market rebalancing.

Segro PLC (SGRO.LN) . Shares climbed 3.5% after the property investment and development company posted a rise in first-half pretax profit to 91.2 million pounds ($118.5 million). (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/segro-profit-rises-on-gain-in-portfolio-value-2017-07-25)

Mediclinic International PLC shares (MDC.LN) picked up 1% after the healthcare group said Danie Meintjes plans to retire (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mediclinic-ceo-danie-meintjes-to-retire-next-july-2017-07-25) from his position as chief executive and company director by July 2018.

But at the bottom of the FTSE 100 was Provident Financial PLC (PFG.LN) , down 4% after the credit provider reported a 46% drop in first-half pretax profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/provident-financial-profit-drops-46-2017-07-25).

The FTSE 100 on Monday dropped 1% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/airlines-oil-stocks-put-ftse-100-under-pressure-2017-07-24), hurt in part by declines for airlines.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 25, 2017 03:57 ET (07:57 GMT)

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