With the Dow Jones last night striking 25200 for the first time in 2 months, the European markets began to rally after the bell.
Having clung onto its gains on Monday, the FTSE got a significant leg up as Tuesday got underway, climbing 0.9% to hit 7090. BP (LON:BP) was a huge boost, the oil giant surging 3.5% as its full year underlying replacement cost profit smashed estimates at $12.7 billion, nearly a billion higher than the $11.88 billion forecast. That growth countered the 3% drop incurred by Ocado (LON:OCDO), the buzzy online supermarket seeing its full year losses widen from £9.8 million to £44.4 million as the company splurged on its customer fulfilment centre expansion and game-changing international deals.
Also providing the FTSE with a lift was sterling’s continued loss of momentum against the dollar. Another 0.1% slide, following on from Monday’s late decline, left cable the wrong side of $1.304, its worst price for nearly a fortnight. As it loiters in the current Brexit limbo it fared better against the euro, rising 0.1% to push back towards $1.142.
The latest services PMI, set to slip slightly from 51.2 to 51.1, could further undermine sterling, especially given the state of the manufacturing and construction figures in the last few sessions.
Over in the eurozone the DAX got back on the horse, climbing 0.8% to near 11250. The CAC was similarly perky, rising back past 5000 as it reclaimed 0.6%.
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