Oil rebound lifts markets

European markets gained ground on Tuesday, with EasyJet plc and supermarket stocks leading the way to a second consecutive day in the green. Markets in Asia closed mixed, while US stocks traded mostly higher, as investors parsed through a number of economic data sets in the midst of a post-election rally slowdown.

Supermarket shares up

Supermarket stocks were trading well in positive territory on Tuesday, following the release of market survey results.

Tesco Plc was the day’s top gainer. Its shares rose 5.5% after the market survey showed that Tesco’s sales grew 2.2% during the 12 weeks ending on 6 November, the strongest growth rate in three years. Tesco’s shares had also risen 27.7% during that period.

Other supermarket companies were also trading in the green. WM Morrison was up 4.42% and J Sainsbury added 2.26%.

Oil back above $45

Oil futures rose on Tuesday to snap a three-session losing streak, amid ongoing efforts to shore up a proposed production cut by members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Crude oil for December jumped as much as 4.4%, to trade at $45.20 a barrel.

Tuesday’s rally marks a reversal from a weeks-long decline in crude prices. Traders have been positioning ahead of an OPEC meeting scheduled for November 30 in Vienna, when members are set to discuss a proposed production cut in a bid to shore up oil prices.

Bloomberg reported that several OPEC members were engaged in a last-minute push to overcome divisions between the cartel’s biggest producers. Qatar, Algeria and Venezuela are leading the push to finalise a deal, while Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran are at odds over how to share output cuts agreed at a September meeting in Algiers.

OPEC reached an agreement to cap output to a range of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day in talks in Algeria in late September. However, the organisation said it will not finalise details on individual output quotas until its November 30 meeting.

This rise in oil prices provided a solid boost to the energy sector. Shares of Exxon Mobil were up 1.62% and Royal Dutch Shell added 2%.

Movers

Shares of Nokia were among the biggest losers of the day in the technology sector on Tuesday. They lost 3.45% after the Finnish company reported that net sales in its key network business were set to decline in full year 2017. The network equipment maker also announced a €1 billion share buyback programme.

The so-called FANG stocks were all trading in positive territory, and contributed to the NASDAQ’s 1% rise on Tuesday. Shares of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google’s parent firm Alphabet all rose.

EasyJet shares were also in the spotlight on Tuesday. The budget airline reported a 22% decline in net profit, and signalled that earnings this year remain under pressure. EasyJet also cut its dividend to 53.8p a share, from 55.2p a share. Despite all this, shares were in the green, and rose 5.33%.