By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
Banks and oil firms lead U.K. benchmark higher
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s benchmark stock index kicked
off the new month and quarter in positive territory on Wednesday,
building on its biggest quarterly gain in more than a year logged
the prior day.
The FTSE 100 index added 0.2% to 6,788.10, led higher by the oil
and banking sectors.
Shares of Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) rose 1.4% after
Jefferies lifted the lender to hold from underperform.
Among other banks, Barclays PLC (BCS) put on 1.6%, Standard
Chartered PLC gained 0.4%, and HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC) climbed
0.5%.
Oil firms, which were slammed lower by the declining oil price
on Tuesday, moved broadly higher on Wednesday. Shares of BG Group
PLC added 1.1%, Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) picked up 0.9% and BP
PLC (BP) gained 0.7%.
On a more downbeat note, shares of Kingfisher PLC gave up 1.5%.
The do-it-yourself retailer jumped 4.3% on Tuesday after announcing
a round of store closures at its B&Q chain
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kingfisher-net-profit-falls-will-close-stores-2015-03-31).
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