Around £10.8 billion was added to the value of UK blue chips yesterday as London’s FTSE 100 Index leapt to its highest level for nearly two years.
US job figures published during the afternoon session helped overshadow fears over the UK economy, sending the top flight a further 42.5 points higher to 6,089.84 - a level not seen since February 2011.
Angus Campbell, head of market analysis at Capital Spreads, said: “Equity markets took another jump higher as investors gorged themselves on risk assets that they believe will benefit from continued central bank stimulus following an uptick in the rate of unemployment in the US.
“As long as the economic data remains sketchy there’s always going to be the prospect of further unorthodox monetary policy that should assist in fuelling further gains for equities.”
But the stagnant economic picture did little for confidence in mining stocks as Randgold Resources dropped 255p to 5,975p and Antofagasta slipped 27p at 1,343p. Silver miner Fresnillo slipped 75p to 1,810p as it was also hit with a broker downgrade, with UBS moving its stance to “neutral”.
However, the session was a chance for the more defensive stocks to catch up on the recent rally. British American Tobacco was up 1.6 per cent at 3,174.5p, while telecoms heavyweights BT and Vodafone were 1.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent higher at 242.8p and 160.1p respectively.
With speculation that discounters such as Aldi and Lidl had been the winners from this year’s austerity Christmas in the grocery sector, supermarket chains Sainsbury’s and Tesco, which both report next week, were struggling. Sainsbury’s was down 2.8p to 333.8p while Tesco shed 0.6p to 349.5p.
NEW YORK: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at its highest in five years last night after data showed US employers kept the pace of hiring steady in December and the services sector expanded at a brisk rate.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 43.85 points, or 0.33 per cent, to end the day ar 13,435.21 while the broader S&P 500 gained 7.1 points, or 0.49 per cent, to close at 1,466.47 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.09 points or 0.04 per cent, closing at 3,101.66.
