A better than forecast, but still 2nd highest ever, UK borrowing figure for April failed to move the needle for the FTSE on Tuesday.
The UK index was unchanged after the bell, flat just a touch above 7,050. A smattering of losses for some of its key stocks – Shell (LON:RDSa) slipped 0.6%, as did Standard Chartered (LON:STAN), AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) – contributed to an overall lifeless start to trading.
It didn’t help that the pound continued to make inroads against the dollar, adding another 0.2% to cross $1.419. If GBP/USD can maintain that slender growth all the way until the end of the day, it will achieve its best close in over 3-years.
Returning from their Bank Holiday rest, the DAX and CAC saw contrasting fortunes on Tuesday. The German bourse was up close to 0.7%, and trading at 15,550. Its French counterpart, meanwhile, struggled to move beyond 6,400 as it opened the session as unchanged as the FTSE.
Looking to this afternoon and the Dow Jones is set to continue its creep back towards 35,000. A 0.2% addition when the bell rings on Wall Street would equate to a 60-point increase, lifting it to 2-week peak of 34,460.
There isn’t too much standing in its way, though both the CB consumer confidence and new home sales readings are set to fall month-on-month, to 119.7 and 950,000 respectively.
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