A oil futures broker who pushed the price of oil to an eight-month high in London after an early-hours trading spree while he was so drunk he blacked out was this morning banned from working in the financial industry and fined £72,000 (€88,900) for market abuse by the market regulator.

Steven Perkins, of Brentwood, Essex, who built up a long position of more than $500m (€410m) in oil futures in the early hours of the morning from his laptop before passing out, has been struck off by the Financial Services Authority, which claims he is not a "fit and proper person" to hold a role of financial significance.