Oils, miners pull FTSE 100 up 2.2 percent
* Commodity stocks fuelled by oil price rise * Marks & Spencer up on trading news
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - London's top share index closed 2.2 percent higher on Wednesday, fuelled by a rise in the oil price which prompted a strong rally in commodity stocks, and on hopes that the recession may be drawing to a close.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 91.50 points at 4,340.71, after closing 1 percent lower on Tuesday.
The index has gained 25.4 percent since touching a six-year low in March, but is still down 2.1 percent for the year.
"When (the oil price) rallies, I think people begin to get a little bit confident that demand is growing and therefore hopefully (global) economies are going to start turning around, and that's why we're seeing the rally in the markets," said Mark Priest, senior equities trader at ETX Capital.
Oil majors added the most points to the FTSE 100 index, holding on to gains despite crude prices CLc1 reversing earlier gains and falling below $70 a barrel after U.S. government data showed increases in U.S. fuel inventories.
BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research), BG Group (BG.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Tullow Oil (TLW.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Cairn Energy (CNE.L: Quote, Profile, Research) rose between 0.4 and 4.2 percent. Continued...
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