By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – The FTSE 100 rose by 0.7% on Tuesday as “reopening” stocks lifted the index for a second consecutive day. The travel and leisure sector was the best performing in the UK with the FTSE 350 Travel & Leisure sector finishing higher by over 2.5%.
Hotel chains InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG) and Whitbread PLC (LON:WTB) were the two companies leading the blue-chip index higher as markets cheer the UK’s vaccine effort which has now seen over half of those over 70 receive at least one dose of the vaccine. Whitbread – which owns the Premier Inn hotel chain and restaurant brands Beefeater and Brewers Fayre – should benefit from an early reopening of the UK economy.
On the downside, silver miner Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) propped up the index after prices of the precious metal retraced some of Monday’s gains after the WallStreetBets silver squeeze.
BP PLC (LON:BP) shares were also lower on Tuesday after the company announced FY20 results pre-market. The oil major reported its first annual loss in 10 years with Q4 profit down a whopping 96%. The full year loss was $5.7 billion as lower demand due to Covid saw a dramatic decline in oil prices at the beginning of last year.
The pound traded mixed against the US dollar and the Euro. Initially strong in the early part of the trading day, GBP/USD moved back below 1.37 after failing to make a clean break higher. EUR/GBP remains near its lowest level of the day after briefly dropping below 0.88.
Earlier in the day, ING released a note suggesting the pound could strengthen in the coming months, predicting that GBP/USD will move above 1.50 and EUR/GBP will head towards 0.85.