Though the Dow Jones avoided doing anything too serious after the bell, the FTSE’s day only got worse.
The reasons for the UK index’s accelerated decline – it returned to 6900 as it slipped nearly 60 points – appeared to be twofold. Firstly, its China-fearing commodity sector seemed more and more uneasy as the day went on, Brent Crude leading the shift lower as it plunged 3.2%. This resulted in 2% and 2.6% falls for BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) respectively, alongside similar drops for the likes of Rio Tinto (LON:RIO), BHP Group (LON:BHPB) and Glencore (LON:GLEN).
Secondly, the pound looked positively chipper. Against the dollar it rose 0.4%, lifting cable a smidge under $1.295, while against the euro it added half a percent, leaving sterling once again knocking on the door of €1.14. The morning’s 10 year high wage growth reading was the main catalyst for the growth, though the ongoing hopes that the UK will avoid a ‘no-deal’ Brexit are presumably playing their part as well.
Elsewhere the Dow Jones dipped 100 points after the bell, pushing it back towards 24500. Still, that’s not too far away from last Friday’s one month-plus highs, and means the index has taken Monday’s disappointing Chinese data fairly well.
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