FTSE 100 bounces back after disappointing Tuesday session

The FTSE 100 index has managed to bounce back of Wednesday, bolstered by oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

Britain’s blue-chip stock index opened today’s session at 7,122.12 points, slightly lower than its Tuesday close of 7,125.00. The index had suffered significant losses on Tuesday after the resignation of Italy’s prime minister Guiseppe Conte dampened the market sentiment across Europe. However, the uncertainty didn’t last long, as investors have seemingly embraced the prospect of political change. At the time of writing, Italy’s FTSE MIB index had risen 1.9% to 20,878.90 points.

Its UK counterpart has also managed to rebound after yesterday’s disappointing session. Oil companies BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSA) have seen solid gains (1.3% and 1.5%, respectively) benefiting from higher crude prices.

Supermarket giant J Sainsbury has also gained over 1% in today’s trading. Yesterday, data from market researcher Kantar showed that the company’s sales had fallen 0.6% in the 12 weeks to August 11. This meant that Sainsbury’s outperformed its major rivals Tesco (LON:TSCO), Asda and WM Morrison Supermarkets (LON:MRW), which suffered drops of 1.6%, 1.5% and 2.7%, respectively.

“While each of the big four lost (market) share, Sainsbury’s will be cheered to be the strongest performer among this cohort for the first time since November 2017,” Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said, as quoted by Reuters.

In today’s trading, the FTSE 100 stood at 7,205.59, as of 15:30 BST. The index has gained just over 1.1% since the start of the session.

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