FTSE 100 finishes lower despite global coronavirus rally
The FTSE 100 missed out on a global rally today after the UK government said it intends to keep lockdown measures in place for the time being and dire predictions were made about the economy.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index closed 0.9 per cent lower at 5,792 points.
Yet European and US markets were more cheery, with the continent-wide Stoxx 600 index up 0.7 per cent. Germany’s Dax was 1.6 per cent higher and France’s CAC 40 was up 0.8 per cent.
Wall Street’s S&P 500 was up 2.2 per cent while the Dow Jones was 1.8 per cent higher.
Investors around the world were boosted by China’s trade figures for March, which showed an improvement from a weak performance in February.
Imports and exports fell 0.9 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively, but these were much better numbers than analysts had predicted.
Market sentiment was also lifted as European governments and US states weigh up reopening their economies amid signs that coronavirus is slowing.
Spain recorded the lowest proportional daily rise in deaths and infections since early March yesterday and let some businesses reopen. In Austria, thousands of shops were set to reopen today.
FTSE 100 lower as UK lockdown continues
Yet Britain’s FTSE 100 was held back by foreign secretary Dominic Raab’s statement that the government is set to continue with the coronavirus lockdown. Reports said it could stay in place for another month.
Joshua Mahony, market analyst at trading platform IG, said: “UK bulls are clearly still in holiday mode today, with the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 both underperforming their mainland European and US counterparts.”
“Chief amongst the losers have been the housebuilders, with the prospect of an economic collapse alongside a widespread halting of property transactions dragging the sector lower.”
UK investors were also weighed down by a report from the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that said the economy could contract by 35 per cent in the second quarter.
Rain Newton-Smith, chief economist at the CBI, said the OBR’s report “makes for bleak reading and stresses the need for the right policies to support our economy through this crisis”.
The Resolution Foundation think tank said things could be even worse than the OBR suggested. “This scenario also assumes almost no scarring or lasting impact on the economy from this recession, which history shows is unlikely to be the case,” it said.