European markets are rising as the London Stock Exchange blocks trading in Russian stocks

London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange: Stock price information is displayed on LSE screens in the City of London, England. Photo: Jack Taylor / Getty Images

European markets rose in positive territory on Thursday as the London Stock Exchange (LSE) blocked trading with 27 companies with close ties to Russia.

In London, the FTSE 100 (^ FTSE) rose 0.3% after opening, while the CAC (^ FCHI) rose 0.4% in Paris and the DAX (^ GDAXI) was 0.2% higher in Frankfurt.

The LSE said it was blocking trade with certain companies “in addition to recent sanctions in connection with the events in Ukraine” and “to maintain orderly markets”.

Some of those affected are EN +, Gazprom, Lukoil, Rosneft and Sberbank.

The move takes effect immediately and follows similar actions from other indices. On Monday, Deutsche Borse stopped trading with 16 companies with ties to Russia, while the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq followed suit.

Russian miners Polymetal (POLY.L) and Evraz (EVR.L) were also kicked out of the FTSE 100 after suffering heavy stock price losses following Western sanctions against Russia.

Read more: Russia’s Evraz and Polymetal will lose FTSE 100 status

After rebounding overnight, S&P 500 futures (ES = F) were down 0.8%, Dow (YM = F) was down 0.5% and Nasdaq futures (NQ = F) were down 1.2%. % lower when trade started in Europe.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil (BZ = F), the global benchmark, exceeded $ 119 a barrel before falling slightly, and is now rising more than 20% for the week.

It was a jump to its nine-year high, meaning the figure has earned more than $ 118 in just one week since the Kremlin pushed troops into Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate (CL = F) traded above $ 115, the highest level since 2008.

Aluminum (ALI = F) reached another record high on Thursday, rising 2.3 percent to $ 3,650 on the London Metal Exchange, while nickel rose more than 4 percent to $ 26,935 a tonne. Russia is a major producer of both metals.

Read more: How Russia’s war against Ukraine affects stock prices

Overnight, Asian stocks managed to make a profit after soothing comments from the Federal Reserve helped Wall Street bounce back.

The story continues

In Japan, the Nikkei (^ N225) rose 0.7 percent, while the Hang Seng (^ HSI) rose nearly 0.6 percent and the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) lost 0.1 percent.

Rapid access to raw materials also boosted resource-rich stocks in Australia, while Indonesia was slightly above record highs.

Watch: Why are gas prices rising?