FTSE 100 bolstered as miners rebound
(Close): The London market recovered from early losses as commodity-related shares rebounded.
After spending most of the morning in negative territory, the FTSE 100 index closed up 16.99 points at 6,301.52.
Rising copper prices lifted mining shares, with Glencore up 4.07%.
Royal Dutch Shell rose 2.6% as oil prices continued to climb, hitting eight-month highs. The price of Brent crude hit $52.20 per barrel.
Shares in Sainsbury's finished up 1.58% after the UK's second-largest supermarket group issued its first-quarter trading update.
Like-for-like sales dropped 0.8% in the 12 weeks to 4 June, but this was not as bad as analysts had feared.
Shares in UK's largest supermarket, Tesco, were up 2.39%.
Sky News reported that the retail giant is likely to announce the sale of its Turkish business Kipa and the UK restaurant chain Giraffe this week.
Shares in AO World, the online retailer specialising in household appliances such as washing machines and fridges, fell 5.27% after the company reported deepening losses.
Full-year pre-tax losses were £6.7m, compared with £2.9m last year. The company also announced it had appointed Geoff Cooper, currently at Card Factory, as its new chairman.