Worries over Iraq raise oil price and FTSE

UK stocks opened up this morning, led by oil companies such as BP, after crude prices increased in late trading yesterday thanks to yet more hype over possible war with Iraq. The FTSE 100 Index rose 13.70 points, or 0.3%, to 4235.70, after the price of crude yesterday surged $1 a barrel to $27.86. All of this was prompted by Iraq's refusal to readmit United Nations weapons inspectors, raising concern about possible US military action against the Middle East oil producer. BP has seen the best gains in this as its share value climbed 5.5p to 508.5p. And Shell, which only yesterday dro...