FTSE opens slightly up
The FTSE 100 opened up 7-13 points, according to financial bookmakers, rallying modestly after falls on Friday in tandem with slight gains on Wall Street and in Asia, with all eyes on Tuesday’s Federal Reserve meeting.
The UK blue chip index closed 31.69 points, or 0.6 per cent lower on Friday at 5,508.45 as weak US consumer confidence data and worries over Ireland’s finances prompted investors to move out of riskier assets, such as banks.
US stocks managed to recoup early falls on Friday, however, as quadruple-witching futures and options expiries passed without any major incidents and reassuring earnings and an upbeat outlook from software firm Oraclebuoyed technology issues.
Asian stocks outside of Japan were slightly higher on Monday, while markets in Tokyo were closed for a public holiday.