FTSE 100 Gains On Earnings

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks traded higher on Thursday as investors cheered strong earnings from the likes of Shell and Standard Chartered.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 27 points, or 0.3 percent, to 8,148 after declining 0.3 percent the previous day.

Standard Chartered jumped 5.4 percent after the lender clocked a stronger-than-expected first-quarter profit on the back of higher interest rates and growth in its wealth management business.

Peer Lloyds Banking Group rose about half a percent while Barclays and NatWest were slightly lower.

Shell rose 1.2 percent. The energy major launched a $3.5 billion share buyback program after beating first-quarter profit estimates.

Smurfit Kappa shares rallied 4.2 percent after the packaging producer reported robust first-quarter revenue of €2.7bn.