AIM higher: IPOs help junior index rally in 2020 January 5, 2021 Faced with a turbulent year, London’s AIM market ended the year higher after a rise in its healthcare and energy stocks and a slew of listings. The junior exchange rallied 21 per cent in 2020, closing at 1,157.04 by the end of the year. The FTSE 100 by contrast ended down 14 per cent on [...]
Sustainability investing: what does the future look like? January 5, 2021 | City Talk ‘Future of Sustainability in Investment Management: From Ideas to Reality’ is a newly published CFA Institute report. The 60-page publication was informed by the views of more than 7,000 industry participants, including 3,500+ retail investors, 920+ asset owners and 3,050+ investment practitioners. Research included virtual roundtables across 31 markets. Here we summarise its findings. The [...]
Copper prices on brink of $8,000 on back of weaker dollar January 5, 2021 Copper prices neared the $8,000 mark this morning as the weak dollar made the red metal the pick of the commodities market for traders. As of 6am, three-month copper was trading up 0.9 per cent at $7,933.50 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange (LME). The commodity, a useful barometer for economic health, briefly touched [...]
FTSE 100 off to strong start to 2021 but Wall Street slips from record highs January 4, 2021 The FTSE 100 got the year off to a strong start today, bursting through the 6,600 point mark this morning, before closing the day up 1.8 per cent. However, Wall Street slipped back from record highs as the world’s markets got 2021 off to a fast start. In the first session of the new year [...]
Sterling hit by fresh UK lockdown fears January 4, 2021 Sterling weakened against the dollar this afternoon as fears of even tighter lockdown restrictions outweighed optimism surrounding a Brexit deal. Sterling had rallied after the last minute Brexit deal brought an end to the uncertainty surrounding Britain’s exit from the EU. But with Brexit finally over traders have turned their attention to the coronavirus pandemic [...]
UK fundraising hits ten-year high as listed companies scramble for cash January 4, 2021 Fundraising by London-listed businesses reached its highest level in a decade last year as the pandemic drove companies to raise money on public markets. 2020 saw the value of secondary equity raisings on the London Stock Exchange nearly double from £14.5bn in 2019 to £8.8bn in 2020, according to new research by Pinsent Masons. In [...]
Oil prices hover at 10 month highs as Opec mulls production curbs January 4, 2021 Oil prices are hovering around 10 month highs this morning as producer cartel Opec and other oil rich nations meet to discuss output curbs. Worldwide standard Brent crude was up 1.4 per cent this morning at $52.50, while West Texas Intermediate rose 0.8 per cent to stand at $48.90. Today’s meeting is the first of [...]
Euro share trading exits London to new EU hubs January 4, 2021 In the first day of trading since Britain left the EU, trading in euro-denominated shares has shifted away from the City to new platforms. The City’s unfettered access to the bloc ended on New Year’s Eve, meaning EU banks and asset managers must use a platform inside the bloc for euro share trading. The Brexit [...]
FTSE flat despite Oxford jab approval giving cause for 2021 optimism December 30, 2020 The FTSE 100 nibbled upward in early trading but fell to flat by lunchtime, as traders looked forward with some optimism to 2021. The index gained Tuesday, with many stocks hitting pre-pandemic highs. Traders were less bullish today, and after reaching gains of 0.3 per cent this morning the index has settled flat. Read more: [...]
What next for healthcare investing after Covid vaccine success? December 29, 2020 | City Talk With three Covid-19 vaccines proving effective, we ask fund manager John Bowler and Data Insights Unit head Mark Ainsworth what comes next as regards the pandemic, and what the future holds for healthcare investing. We’d been waiting all year for a Covid-19 vaccine, when suddenly three came along at once. First up on 9 November [...]