Times are tough for the bulls on oil and commodity stocks. The sharp falls in oil prices since July have coincided with fresh bouts of trouble for sector heavyweights BP and Shell. That has raised doubts about one of the biggest and most successful trades of the past few years - overweight oils and miners. But the bulls should hold on. The story is not yet over, even if the ride is going to get bumpier.

It is a call which has ramifications for the wider UK market. London has been underperforming, precisely because resources stocks have been falling and because there is a greater weighting of these in London than in other European markets. While the FTSE All Share is nearly 5 per cent below its April 21 peak, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index was at four-month highs on Thursday. Its close yesterday was only 2.5 per cent below the five-and-a-half-year peak in May.