FTSE pushes higher as City awaits Monday’s reopening
London’s markets rose this morning as the City geared up for Monday’s loosening of coronavirus restrictions and the unlocking of the rest of the economy.
Both the FTSE 100 and mid-cap sibling the FTSE 250 are up 0.4 per cent so far today, pushed higher by a raft of heavyweight stocks.
Although energy group DCC led the way, up 3.8 per cent on the back of a positive trading update, the climb was driven by travel stocks bouncing back after another turbulent week.
Intercontinental Hotels Group was up 2.8 per cent, while engine maker Rolls-Royce was up 2.1 per cent after about an hour’s trading.
BA owner IAG also soared 1.9 per cent after slipping yesterday after another underwhelming travel list update by the government.
However, miner Rio Tinto fell 1.6 per cent after reporting a 12 per cent fall in quarterly iron ore shipments after storms affected its West Australian operations.
On the FTSE 250, both Easyjet and Wizz Air have picked up 2.3 per cent so far today.
The rise comes with the UK set to scrap almost all its remaining Covid-19 restrictions despite the recent surge in cases, driven by the Delta variant.
Thus far today the FTSE 100 is outperforming its rivals in Europe, with the DAX up 0.2 per cent and the CAC down 0.1 per cent.
Later today traders will turn their eyes to US retail sales data, said AJ Bell financial analyst Danni Hewson.
“Investors may be hoping for a number which is neither too hot nor too cold when the US reports retail sales figures later”, she said.
“If the reading is a lot higher than expected then there will be concern that the world’s largest economy is overheating but if the data is much weaker then there will be fears the recovery from the pandemic is being knocked off course amid mounting infection rates linked to the Delta variant.”