FTSE up after week-long dip
BRITAIN’S top share index halted a week-long slide yesterday, as investors stumped up the courage to buy in on the dips of badly beaten equities, although the murky outlook for global growth kept gains to a minimum.
London’s blue chip index closed 36.86 points higher, or up 0.7 per cent at 5,304.48, having fallen 5.5 per cent last week on persistent concerns over the implications of a possible Greek exit from the euro and worries over debt-laden Spanish banks
The index has stabilised around the 5,250 level in the past two trading days and just above the 200-week moving average, a level last broken in 2 December, the day major central banks lifted global markets via coordinated liquidity injections, although an analyst said any upside this week is seen limited at 5,430.
Comments from Chinese policymakers that suggested they could well take measures to help boost growth and domestic consumption helped the rally, as did the US Chicago Fed National activity index, which suggested the US economy is on a slow recovery path at the start of Q2.
“There is some value out there … There is some growth (outside Europe) and people need to remember that the earnings of FTSE 100 companies are skewed outside the UK,” said Rupert Armitage, director at Shore Capital.
Riskier banks and miners, which have fallen more than 18 per cent and 22 per cent respectively over the last three months, inched higher.
Vedanta, up 5.2 per cent, led the miners higher in tandem with copper prices, which recovered on a combination of bargain-hunting, short-covering and a weaker dollar, having rallied off four-month lows in the previous session.
Part-state-owned lender Royal Bank of Scotland was the strongest banking gainer, up 4.1 per cent, having been the biggest faller on Friday.