Despite some record highs for the US markets last night, a reversal from yesterday’s bubbly oil stocks, and continued slump from its miners, dragged the FTSE back under 7500.
The UK index was unable to find a reason to build on Tuesday’s near 7-month peak, instead retreating by half a percent or so after the bell. This as Brent Crude itself slipped 0.7% to return to $74 per barrel, a move that caused BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) to give back 1.6% and 1% respectively. A 2.5% tumble from Anglo American (LON:AAL) also weighed on the index, with the rest of its mining peers also in the red.
The situation in the Eurozone was slightly more mixed. The CAC found itself slipping 0.3%, while the DAX nudged up by 10 points, lifting above 12250 in the process, keeping its recent 6/7 month highs within reach. How the bourse performs as the day goes on could be dependent on the German Ifo business climate reading; analysts are expecting a minor improvement, from 99.6 to 99.9 month-on-month.
Sterling show no signs of recovering from yesterday’s wobble. Against the dollar it dipped another 0.1%, forcing cable to a fresh, sub-$1.293 2-month low; against the euro, meanwhile, the pound was flat, though it’d only take a light breeze for the currency to be knocked to its worst price since the end of February.
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