FTSE 100 close: London index makes tracks to record high as world elite meet in Davos amid recession fears
London’s FTSE 100 made more tracks toward its record high today, extending a bullish start to 2023.
The capital’s premier index jumped 0.2 per cent to 7,860.08 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, climbed 0.65 per cent to close above the 20,000 point mark.
The FTSE 100 kicked off another week in good style today, taking its 2023 earnings so far to around four per cent.
That new year surge has led it to near its highest level ever of just over 7,900 points, hit in May 2018.
Easing fears over the severity of a much touted UK recession has lifted sentiment toward London listed stocks.
FTSE 100 rose again this today
The prospect of global energy and commodity prices being boosted by China, the world’s second largest economy, reopening its economy by dismantling its zero Covid policy has also prompted traders to pour into the FTSE 100.
A large chunk of the index is made up of industrial firms, such as BP, Shell and Glencore.
“With British consumers flexing their spending muscle over the Christmas period and the country looking more likely to have escaped falling into recession in 2022, the waves of optimism have been lapping over the London market,” Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
Insurer Beazley was the biggest faller on the premier index.
The World Economic Forum’s annual jamboree in Davos, Switzerland, begins today, with markets closely watching for clues on the possible path of interest rates this year.
European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde speaks on Thursday and Friday, although most of the world’s leading rate setters have shunned this year’s meeting.