Oilers advance as airlines and housebuilders are hit by Hormuz fall-out

BP PLC ( LSE:BP. ) View Price & Profile Oilers advance as airlines and housebuilders are hit by Hormuz fall-out Published: 08:39 20 Jul 2026 BST BP PLC (LSE:BP.) and Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) led the FTSE 100 risers early on as Brent tops $90 a barrel for the first time in more than a month, with the US military launching a ninth straight day of strikes on Iran and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowing to a trickle.

Just a handful of ships transited the waterway on Sunday, and Tehran claims to have hit two of them.

Analysts warned that the longer the strait stays shut, the greater the risk crude has to climb towards $150 a barrel to choke off demand, though that is not his base case.

For the oilers, all of this means fatter margins and, in Shell's case, a gas trading business already feasting on the volatility.

Airline stocks, led by International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG) , off 2.2%, led the index lower.

They were joined at the foot of the Footsie by the housebuilders, stalked by the fear of higher costs and higher interest rates.

Thirty-year Treasury yields are back above 5%, and the read-across for UK rates and mortgage costs is doing the sector no favours.

The builders had enjoyed a bounce on talk that incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham could revive Help to Buy, but rate jitters are trumping policy hopes today.