The US open added little this Monday, a day driven by new 2 years highs for Brent Crude and not much else.
Though the Dow Jones did hit another record peak after the bell, it did so in such underwhelming fashion – nudging 0.1% higher – that it’s hard to really count it as much of an event.
Elsewhere the eurozone indices remained in the red despite the euro’s losses against the dollar and the pound – and a better than forecast region-wide services PMI – with the DAX and CAC falling 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.
As for the FTSE, the UK index rose 0.1% as Monday went on, flirting with closing at its own all-time high. The FTSE could have been even higher if sterling hadn’t spent the day clawing back some of its post-BoE hike losses, rising 0.2% against the dollar and 0.4% against the euro respectively.
Arguably, the UK index should have done better given the showing from its commodity stocks. BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) jumped 0.8% and 1% respectively as Brent Crude crossed $62.50 for the first time in 2 years following an ‘anti-corruption’ blitz from Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with investors barrelling into the commodity as they weighed up the potentially destabilising effect this will have on the country’s oil output.
Copper also got a boost this Monday, surging 1.2% as the markets got to grips with the idea that the metal will see a sharp increase in demand as electric vehicles become more popular. This in turn led the UK’s miners higher, with Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) up 1.7%, Anglo American (LON:AAL) up 2% and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) up 2.7%.
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