UK markets play rally catch-up
After missing out yesterday, the FTSE indices played catch-up to their US and European peers on Tuesday, fuelled by financials
The FTSE 100 index hit a four-month peak earlier in the session but was pulled back in late deals by a slide on Wall Street as US investors sought to take profits following Monday’s bumper session, raising concerns that the British equities could follow a similar trend tomorrow. Still, the UK’s blue-chip index managed to reduce its overall losses for the year so far to just 1.7%, having surged 26% since early March.
The FTSE 100 index took on 93.7 points or 2.2% on Tuesday to 4,336.9, while the FTSE 250 index added 265.5 points or 3.5% to settle at 7,836.8.
Index gains were led by financials ahead of Thursday’s results of the US government’s stress tests on 19 of the nation’s largest banks. Rumour has it that 10 of these are going to be told they must raise additional capital, but hopes that capital deficits will be manageable propelled UK banks higher today.
Comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke claiming that the US’s housing market slump could be close to bottoming out and that the nation’s recession could end this year provided an extra boost to financial shares.
The top-performing UK bank was Lloyds Banking Group, 10.5% ahead at 121.1p, while Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered gained between 7% and 9%. The latter closed up 8.5% at 1,150p after reporting record first quarter income and profits despite the global downturn.
The financial sector may have added the most points to the FTSE 100 index, but it was national carrier British Airways that put in the best performance, jumping 12.1% to 165.9p after travel and tourism stocks received a battering in the previous week amid the ongoing spread of swine flu. Similarly, tour operators Thomas Cook Group and TUI Travel rose by 8.0% to 280.5p and 7.2% to 268p, respectively, while hotelier InterContinental Hotels was up 7.0% at 669.5p.
Elsewhere, upbeat economic data from China yesterday provided a viable excuse for commodity investors to buy into mining plays. Vedanta Resources, Kazakhmys and Eurasian Natural Resources each took on 9%-12%.
Oil & gas producers were also in demand with the price of light, sweet crude back up near $54 per barrel. Tullow Oil was 3.7% higher at 855p, Cairn Energy gained 1.8% at 2,228p, Royal Dutch Shell firmed 1.7% at 1,578p and BP ticked up 1.5% at 493p.
On the downside, a number of defensive stocks limited FTSE gains, eschewed by investors in the stronger market. Supermarket group Wm. Morrison topped the casualty list, having dropped 3.4% to 239.75p, while utility group Scottish & Southern Energy fell back 2.3% at 1,080p and food and household products group Unilever came off 1.9% at 1,301p. The latter will unveil results this week. Click here to find out what the market will be focusing on.
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