By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – The FTSE 100 finished the session marginally lower after earlier hitting its highest level in a month after a decent jump in mining stocks. Glencore (LON:GLEN) and BHP Group PLC (LON:BHPB) both released earnings pre-market with Glencore reinstating the dividend after suspending it back in August last year. BHP announced a $5.1bln special dividend after the first half of the fiscal year.
Mid-caps
Serco Group (LON:SRP) was one of the best performers in the FTSE 250. The outsourcer - which has come under fire for a mostly unsuccessful Covid test & trace system in the UK – announced that they have bought Whitney, Bradley & Brown in a deal worth $295mln.
Some domestic reopening names, such as Rank Group (LON:RNK), were also rising to the top of the FTSE 250. Rank Group operates casinos and bingo halls in the UK and should benefit from an effective vaccine campaign.
Dunelm Group PLC (LON:DNLM) shares underperformed after the company announced that their vice-chairman Will Adderley was selling part of his stake.
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin surged above $50,000 for the first time as the cryptocurrency becomes to be more widely accepted in the corporate sphere. There are still arguments that the cryptocurrency does hold any real-world usage but the announcements from Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) last week continue to give credibility and cryptocurrencies have benefitted as a result.
Currencies
GBP was relatively flat before GBP/USD saw a small move higher heading into the London fix. The price of various FX pairs at the fix is used to value trillions of dollars of investments and a jump in cable around 4pm saw the price move back above 1.3900. The EUR was initially strong after an upbeat German ZEW survey before EUR/USD pared back and fell back below its 50DMA at 1.2156.
Bonds
Government bonds weakened with the United Kingdom 10-Year jumping above 0.6% and to its highest level since March last year. The United States 10-Year pushed higher and broke above 1.25%, again the highest since the tantrum and volatility seen at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March.
Commodities
WTI outperforms Brent as the freezing cold temperatures in the US have caused an energy crisis in Texas, meaning that as much as 3mln BPD of oil production could be offline as refineries have been forced to close.