Brent Crude Rises Over 3 Percent to $78.62 a Barrel on July 13

Brent crude rose 3.4 percent to $78.62 a barrel in London trading on July 13, The Guardian reported. The global benchmark gained as much as 4.5 percent earlier in the session and stood 2.9 percent higher at $78.23 a barrel at one point, remaining below the $80 level.

The FTSE 100 index finished the session up 3 points at 10,500 after trading as low as 10,472, a decline of 25 points, according to The Guardian.

The Nasdaq fell 0.7 percent to 26,086, the Dow Jones declined 47 points to 52,684 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent to 7,552. South Korea’s Kospi fell nearly 10 percent. Spot gold slid 1.3 percent to $4,066 an ounce.

Opec lowered its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2026 to 780,000 barrels a day, the third consecutive downward revision, while raising its 2027 forecast. The group said the ICE Brent front-month contract averaged $84.43 a barrel in June after falling $19.28 from May, and the Nymex WTI front-month contract averaged $81.79 after dropping $16.72.

PageGroup reported a 5.3 percent drop in UK gross profit in the three months to the end of June, an improvement from the 11.4 percent decline in the prior quarter.

Group gross profit fell 0.2 percent on a constant-currency basis to £197.6 million. The company cut 80 fee earners in the quarter, reducing that headcount 1.6 percent year-on-year to 4,994, and trimmed non-fee earner headcount 2.3 percent. It closed offices and removed management layers to save £40 million a year and maintained its target of £28 million in annual operating profit for 2026, up from £20.9 million in 2025.

The average UK unleaded petrol price rose to 151.19 pence per litre on July 13 from a low of 150.59 pence on July 6, The Guardian reported, citing RAC data. Diesel averaged 164.85 pence per litre. The AA recorded diesel at 164.9 pence.