New figures showing US oil inventories have grown in recent weeks helped push the price of crude oil down today, with the result UK oil majors Shell and BP also fell, pushing the FTSE 100 index down 15.30 points to 4,489.50.
Boots dropped most, shedding 20p to 650p as its shares went ex-dividend. BP dropped 11.5p to 480.75p and Shell fell 5.25p to 395p. Rio Tinto dropped 24p to 1,295p to lead the mining sector down after analysts at BMO Nesbitt Burns downgraded the company. BSkyB jumped 17p to 629p after announcing plans to offer free access to its digital satellite television broadcasting to better compete with the terrestrial digital service Freeview. BT added 2p to 187.5p after announcing it is to switch its entire residential telephone network to an internet-based system, which will save an est...
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