FTSE falls under pressure from oil stocks

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The FTSE 100 index has dropped 15.9 points or 0.29% to 5,501.5, after a gloomy performance from the oil majors, along with profit-taking from PartyGaming which caused sellers to offload stock late in the day.

Safety worries following Sunday’s blast at an oil depot in Hemel Hempstead knocked BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Cairn Energy oil companies as BP slipped 1.48% to 630.5p, while Shell dropped 0.95% to £18.68 and Cairn Energy also fell 1.21% to £18.74. Boots also ended lower with a drop of 0.91% to 596.5p following a report suggesting Alliance Unichem shareholders are getting increasingly concerned about the planned £7bn merger. While Boots closed down, Alliance Unichem gained 1.79% to 768.5p. Elsewhere, Next fell 1.31% to £15.10 as it was hit by a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' ...

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