By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Oil firms led U.K. stocks higher after a broker upgrade on Monday, while shares of GlaxoSmithKline PLC also showed upbeat moves after a target price lift.
The FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +0.69% climbed 0.6% to 6,346.22, partly recovering from four straight weeks of losses.
Shares of Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC UK:RB +2.14% added 1.7% after analysts at Citigroup said the consumer-products firm is undervalued by the market, particularly in light of its resilience to the recent entry of generic competition in the U.S.
Oil firms were also on the rise after J.P. Morgan Cazenove lifted the sector to overweight from neutral and mentioned BP PLC UK:BP +1.18% BP -0.58% as one of its top picks. Shares of BP added 1.3%, Royal Dutch Shell PLC UK:RDSB +1.43% RDS.B -1.67% put on 1.2% and BG Group PLC UK:BG +1.15% gained 0.9%. Oil prices were also higher.
Shares of GlaxoSmithKline PLC UK:GSK +0.57% GSK -0.70% picked up 0.6% to £16.84 after UBS lifted the price target on the drug maker to £17.45 from £14.50, citing improving longer-term prospects and higher sector multiples.
Banks were also inspired by the positive sentiment, with shares of HSBC Holdings PLC UK:HSBA +1.10% HBC -2.22% HK:5 +0.84% up 1.1%, Lloyds Banking Group PLC UK:LLOY +0.42% LYG -0.52% 0.6% higher and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC UK:RBS +0.82% RBS -1.69% rising 0.4%.
Bucking the positive trend in London, shares of Associated British Foods PLC UK:ABF -3.03% gave up 1.7% after Nomura cut the firm to reduce from neutral.
