(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)A rise in oil prices sparked by conflict in Syria and rising commodity prices helped to boost London's blue-chip stocks today. The price of a barrel of brent crude rose 3.3% to US$49.78 while a barrel of West Texas Intermediate was 2.6% higher to US$46.77. David Madden at IG said: 'Oil has jumped as tension in the Middle East are rising as Russia is backing the President in Syria. As the violence continues oil will keep climbing higher. Russia is interested in opening discussions over the price of oil with OPEC members and this is a sign that the Western imposed sanctions are taking their toll on the oil-producing country the analyst said. 'Other oil-rich states are feeling the pinch because of low energy prices and OPEC's production levels might be called into question by its members.' Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) gushed 4.4% to 1693p while BP (LON:BP.) gained 4.7% to 386p. Away from the index there were big gains for fellow oil companies Premier Oil (LON:PMO) and Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) Commodity trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) also gave the market a boost on talk that it will sell its agricultural business. Shares rose some 21% to 115p today. Although the group said it didn't know why its stock rose it followed reports that chief executive Ivan Glasenberg was ready to listen to takeover offers pushing the company back above the £1 for the first time since its precipitous plunge. The FTSE 100 Index soared 168 points or 2.75% to 6298 as traders bid up Glencore by its biggest ever daily gain in Hong Kong. Other miners were up following the news with Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) gaining 73p to 2315p Anglo American (LON:AAL) lifting 21p to 574p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) advancing 23p to 1065p. Elsewhere support services group Capita and private equity firm Apollo are squaring up in a takeover battle for back office services supplier Xchanging (LON:XCH) which rocketed 50% to 165p. Away from the index APR Energy (LON:APR) is also facing a takeover bid from a consortium involving its largest shareholder. Shares leapt 72% to 159p. There wasn't such good news for Hargreaves Services which softened 10% to 309p. The company said it is willing to look at any viable plan to stop its coke ovens being destroyed at Redcar. It added that the thermal coal market remains tough as it continues to close operations. Also lower was Alexander Mining (LON:AXM) after the firm raised £42000 from the issue of 105mln shares and added that the mining market remains tough but is confident that is turning a corner. Playtech (LON:PTEC) was 3% down to 803p as the firm updated the market on its two acquisitions. Both Ava Trade and Plus500 were supposed to be completed by the end of last month but have been caught up with regulatory problems although the company is confident both will be fixed shortly. Lunchtime Report Rising oil and metal prices helped markets to brush off dismal European service industry data on Monday. The price of a barrel of US light crude rose nearly a percentage point to just shy of US$46 as Friday's news of lower US production capacity buoyed investors. The 24 rig reduction in the US oil rig count saw all and more of the gains of recent months ceded with the count now some 2% down on its late June trough of 628 rigs. Meanwhile prices of metals such as copper nickel and zinc rose on the low dollar and reduced prospects of a US interest rate hike this year. Commodity trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) also gave the market a boost on talk that it will sell its agricultural business. The FTSE 100 Index soared 136.16 points to 6266 as traders bid up Glencore by its biggest ever daily gain in Hong Kong. London-listed shares in the company had risen 12.4p to 107.4p by lunchtime in London. Although the group said it didn't know why its stock rose it followed reports that chief executive Ivan Glasenberg was ready to listen to takeover offers pushing the company back above the £1 for the first time since its precipitous plunge. Dealers were also likely to be taking account of last week's statement talking of 'proactive steps' being taken to position Glencore to 'withstand current commodity market conditions.' Other miners were up following the news with Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) gaining 55p to 2297p Anglo American (LON:AAL) lifting 15.3p to 568.9p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) advancing 10.5p to 1052.5p. The commodity and oil price rises eclipsed a swathe of disappointing service sector purchasing managers' index data from the UK and the eurozone. The Eurozone's region wide figure fell to a four-month low triggered by a two-month low in Germany a six-month low for Italy and a nine-month low in Spain. Only France managed an improvement hitting a three-month high. UK services PMI growth fell to a two-and-a-half year low at 53.3 against the 56.4 expected which analysts said indicated weak third quarter GDP growth of 0.3%. Takeover activity was also buoying sentiment with news that support services group Capita (LON:CPI) and private equity outfit Apollo were going head-to-head in a battle for back office services group Xchanging (LON:XCH). Shares in Capita which has offered 160p for Xchanging progressed 20p to 1233p and Xchanging's stock went up by more than half or 56p to 166.75p. Apollo has proposed a 170p per share offer. Rolls-Royce (LON:RR.) powered ahead 18.5p to 723p on news that it was cutting another 400 jobs in its embattled marine division on top of 600 reductions announced in May. Budget carrier Ryanair (LON:RYA) ticked up €0.47 to €13.37 as September passenger numbers rose 12% to 9.55 million while its load factor - how full its aircraft were - increased four percentage points to 94%. British mining services group Hargreaves Services (LON:HSP) subsided 47.5p to 298.75p as it faced lower thermal coal prices and the liquidation of Teesside steelmaker SSI. Elsewhere Trinidad-focused oil group LGO Energy (LON:LGO) raised £1mln to continue exploration work at its Goudron Field. Shares were issued at 0.9p. The company's stock fell 0.12p to 0.92p. Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) spurted 0.5p to 3.62p after voicing hopes to bring onshore UK field prospect Wressle into production and issue a competent person's report (CPR) to boost reserves. It also plans to start the farm-out processes for its Holmwood prospect in Surrey its Irish licences and to keep up talks with potential partners for Bearn des Gaves in France. LONDON OPEN Commodity trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) gave the market a boost on Monday on talk that it will sell its agricultural business. The FTSE 100 Index soared 104.92 points to 6234 as traders bid up Glencore by its biggest ever daily gain in Hong Kong. London-listed shares in the company rose 10 per cent to 104.5p in the first minutes of trading. Although the group said it didn't know why its stock rose it followed reports that chief executive Ivan Glasenberg was ready to listen to takeover offers pushing the company back above the £1 for the first time since its precipitous plunge. Dealers were also likely to be taking account of last week's statement talking of 'proactive steps' being taken to position Glencore to 'withstand current commodity market conditions.' Other miners were up following the news with Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) gaining 47.5p to 2289.5p Anglo American (LON:AAL) lifting 17.8p to 571.4p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) advancing 25.5p to 1067.5p. MIke van Dulken at Accendo Markets said: "investors - disappointed loyalists and relieved bargain hunters alike - are a little miffed with a mere 10% jump being well short of the 40-70% gains seen in Hong Kong overnight. "While the Asian jump came from press reports the company said it was open to takeover offers and mulling sales of its agriculture business the muted London reaction comes from acknowledgement that all companies are open to takeover offers." Takeover activity was also buoying sentiment with news that support services group Capita (LON:CPI) and private equity outfit Apollo were going head-to-head in a battle for back office services group Xchanging (LON:XCH). Shares in Capita which has offered 160p for Xchanging progressed 18p to 1231p and Xchanging's stock went up by more than half or 57.5p to 168.25p. Apollo has proposed a 170p per share offer. Rolls-Royce (LON:RR.) powered ahead 18p to 722.5p on news that it was cutting another 400 jobs in its embattled marine division on top of 600 reductions announced in May. Budget carrier Ryanair (LON:RYA) ticked up €0.15 to €13.05 as September passenger numbers rose 12% to 9.55 million while its load factor - how full its aircraft were - increased four percentage points to 94%. British mining services group Hargreaves Services (LON:HSP) subsided 25.25p to 321p as it faced lower thermal coal prices and the liquidation of Teesside steelmaker SSI. Elsewhere Trinidad-focused oil group LGO Energy (LON:LGO) raised £1mln to continue exploration work at its Goudron Field. Shares were issued at 0.9p. The company's stock fell 0.15p to 0.9p. MARKET PREVIEW London shares are set to trade sharply higher with the markets expected to continue to react positively to a seemingly negative nugget of US data released last week. A weaker than expected monthly jobs number suggests the potential for an immediate interest rate rise Stateside has receded somewhat given the country's fragile economic position. With the Chinese markets close until Wednesday equities in the region were a little more stable posting decent gains after those US non-farm payrolls numbers. The Japan's Nikkei 225 index was up 1.7% gain in Australia the ASX was raced ahead 1.9% while Korea's Kopsi was a more modest 0.5% higher. Here in the UK the FTSE 100 is set rise around 100 points on opening to 6229.98 according to the spread betting firm IG. This week it is the turn of the Bank of England to opine on interest rates although the experts are predicting no change. Australia and Japan also decide on monetary policy over the coming days while the US Federal Reserve whose every word has been scrutinised in minute detail is set to publish the minutes to its last meeting. Despite the aforementioned jobs data form the US it is still expected the Fed will ratchet up interest rates at some point this year. 'If they didn't enough already central banks are set to dominate this week's market focus' said Japser Lawler of CMC Markets. Back to the UK and corporate news which after the unseemly last minute rush to file accounts by last week's deadline looks a little thinner on the ground. Tesco (LON:TSCO) is probably the most interesting of those reporting and its interims on Wednesday will be scrutinised for signs of recovery for the UK's largest grocer.
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