By Carla Mozee and Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch

Scottish Widows deal with Standard Life ending

U.K. blue-chip stocks on Thursday closed higher, with advances for mining and oil shares helping the market to its second straight rise.

The sector gains came as prices of oil and metals advanced, partly due to a fall in the U.S. dollar Wednesday after mixed economic data.

How markets are performing

The FTSE 100 added 0.3% to end at 7,234.81, boosted in part by the basic materials and oil and gas groups. Together, those groups make up nearly 25% of the benchmark's weighting, according to FactSet data. On Wednesday, the London index rose 0.6% after a volatile session (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-climbs-as-investors-embrace-risk-before-us-inflation-data-2018-02-14).

The pound bought $1.4048, more than $1.4001 late Wednesday in New York.

The yield on the 10-year gilt recently was up by 3 basis points to 1.65%, according to Tradeweb.

What's moving markets

Weakness in the U.S. dollar has lifted most dollar-denominated commodities, such as copper and oil . Crude oil prices were building on Wednesday's rally, which was also bolstered by data showing a disappointing rise (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-add-to-gains-after-best-day-in-months-2018-02-15) in weekly U.S. crude inventories.

Supported by those rises for metals and oil, shares of mining and energy companies gained ground in London, helping drive the index higher.

U.K. stocks were latching onto gains even after the U.K. pound rose above $1.40, as the dollar stumbled. Strength in sterling can eat into earnings made overseas by multinational companies on the FTSE 100.

Stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cpi-surges-05-in-january-but-yearly-rate-of-inflation-unchanged-2018-02-14) and rising Treasury yields initially lifted the greenback on Wednesday, but that was accompanied by data showing an unexpected drop in U.S. retail sales. Those mixed signals may have helped sink the dollar, analysts said.

Check out:Here's why the U.S. dollar isn't getting much love (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-the-us-dollar-is-nobodys-valentine-2018-02-14)

What strategists are saying

"Given that these gains are coming after the hawkish, and higher-than-forecast, inflation figures out of the U.K. and the U.S., it appears that investors have become slightly more accepting of any impending increase in interest rates. Or, at the very least, they saw little in Tuesday's and Wednesday's data to speed up the schedules laid out by the Federal Reserve and Bank of England in the last few weeks," said Spreadex financial analyst Connor Campbell in a note.

"It appears that the FX market has simply lost confidence in the dollar. Widening interest rate differentials and expectation of further U.S. tightening aren't supporting the currency like they used to," said Marshall Gittler, chief strategist at ACLS Global, in a note.

Stocks in focus

Standard Life Aberdeen PLC shares (SLA.LN) slumped 7.5% after it said Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LLOY.LN) and Scottish Widows have given notice to end the GBP109 billion (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/standard-life-end-of-lloyds-scottish-widows-deal-2018-02-15) ($151.7 billion) investment-management arrangement that was reached in 2014. Lloyds shares advanced 0.7%.

Shares of oil producers BP PLC (BP.LN) (BP.LN) climbed 0.4%, though Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) (RDSB.LN) dropped 0.3% as earlier gains faded.

Among miners, Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN) gained 1.9%, BHP Billiton PLC (BLT.LN) (BHP.AU) (BHP.AU) claimed a 1.5% rise, and Antofagasta PLC (ANTO.LN) bulked up 1.8%.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 15, 2018 12:32 ET (17:32 GMT)

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