MARKET REPORT: BP and Shell earn £14bn as oil soars towards $80s

BP and Shell have added a combined £14 billion to their values ​​this week as oil prices continue to rise.

Shares of both have risen thanks to a 13 percent rise in crude oil since Iran fired its missiles at Israel. Oil was trading at less than $70 a barrel before Tuesday’s attack, but rose as high as $79 yesterday.

BP shares rose a further 1.9 per cent, or 7.9p, to 416.9p yesterday, taking the week’s gains to 7.4 per cent or £4.7bn.

Shell added 0.5 per cent, or 13.5 pence, to 2,577.5 pence, meaning it is up 6.3 per cent, or £9.5 billion, in the last five days.

In the broader market, the FTSE 100 was broadly flat losing 1.9 points to close the day at 8,281, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.8 per cent, or 160 points, to 20,900.

It has been a week to forget for Aston Martin. The luxury automaker suffered its second-worst weekly performance since going public six years ago.

Shares fell more than 30 percent following a series of broker downgrades after Aston Martin cut its profit and production targets.

And yesterday analysts at Citi cut their price target on the share from 176p to 117p. However, bargain hunters pounced, sending the shares up 4.7 per cent, or 4.9p, to 109.8p.

UK banks are at a “key inflection point”, according to Goldman Sachs. Analysts at the bank said NatWest had entered a “new era”.

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the stock with a “buy” rating and a price target of 440 pence.

NatWest shares rose 3.9 per cent, or 12.8 pence, to 342.5 pence, while Lloyds added 2.4 per cent, or 1.4 pence, to 58.80 pence.

Britain’s biggest housebuilder is to complete the takeover of a smaller rival after the deal was approved by the competition watchdog. Barratt Developments, which agreed to buy Redrow for £2.5bn in February, said the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is now satisfied with the alliance.

The acquisition was investigated by the CMA over fears the deal could lead to higher prices or lower quality homes around Whitchurch, Shropshire.

Barratt and Redrow addressed this issue by appointing estate agency Savills as an independent third party agent to manage the sales process for the remaining unsold homes. Barratt shares rose 0.2 per cent, or 0.8p, to 482.1p.

Schroders was another of the top stocks that rose after an improvement in its broker.

Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas upgraded the fund manager’s rating from “underperform” to “neutral.” The shares rose 3.9 per cent, or 13.4p, to 360.6p.

Experian is to buy a digital fraud prevention provider in Brazil for £267m. The credit rating agency said it expects the deal for ClearSale, which has more than 7,400 active customers, to be completed in the first half of next year.

The shares fell 2.5 per cent, or 97 pence, to 3,862 pence.

Airlines bounced back after a difficult week with rising tensions in the Middle East.

EasyJet shares rose 2.6 per cent, or 12.7 pence, to 493 pence, Wizz Air added 3.7 per cent, or 45 pence, to 1,274 pence and BA owner IAG rose 1 .7 per cent, or 3.3p, to 192p. Business remained tough for cryptocurrency miner Argo Blockchain after sales fell from £1.8m in August to £1.7m last month. The shares fell 1.2 per cent, or 0.1p, to 8.5p.