Record oil price hurts FTSE prospects

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Stock values on the London Stock Exchange are down again this morning in part because of that climbing oil price in New York, which is not far from the $50 a barrel mark.

The FTSE 100 index dropped 8 points or 0.2% to 4354 within the first hour of trading, after advertising firm WPP reported its first-half profit was a little lower than anticipated. WPP fell 8p or 1.6% to 486.5p after its first-half profit rose 11% to £105.9m. Shell Transport & Trading - which owns 40% of Royal Dutch/Shell – made further gains after one of the banks advised investors to buy. Shell’s price rose 2.25p or 0.6% to 398.25p. In Asia, activity was kept afloat thanks to confidence in the consumer market, however the rising costs associated with the oil price concerned some...

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