Late FTSE 100 rally peaks at 12 year high
The FTSE 100 rallied in the final 2 hours of trading today after steady declines from late in the morning through to the afternoon saw it fall almost 14 points below its opening price. The index advanced by 43.90 in couple of hours, closing at 6755.63 and breaking the previous record of 6752 set in September of 2000.
Numis Securities Ltd inspired the day’s biggest gainers meteoric rise as they upgraded Royal Bank of Scotland from a “hold” to a “buy”. This saw the banking giant advance by 15.100, or 4.48 percent, to 351p per share and more than double its trade volume — upto 26,731,941 from its 30 day average of 13,315,040.
EasyJet reaped the benefits of an ever improving climate in the leisure and tourism industry, advancing by 47.00, or 3.96 percent, to 1235.00. The advance made by RyanAir drove EasyJet’s gains as they rallied 13 percent in Dublin. Benchmarks for tourism across Europe were also significantly up and further extended its current record highs.
Utilities also saw impressive gains as SSE PLC, a lead supplier of electricity in the UK, lead the way and closed at 1646.00, up 44.00, or 2.75 percent. Petrofac Ltd rised to 1361.00, a gain of 36.00, or 2.72 percent. United Utilities Group and National Grid PLC also advanced, adding 2.55 percent and 2.29 percent respectively.
Miners were the biggest losers of the day with five of the ten biggest declining stocks in the index coming from their sector and a sixth being a supplier of mining equipment. Fresnillo PLC declined by 3.27 percent, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp declined by 2.76 percent, PolyMetal International fell by 2.60 percent, Anglo American PLC saw losses of 1.08 percent and, finally, Antofagasta PLC declined by almost 1 percent.
All of these declines can be attributed to the ongoing decline of gold prices, which is likely to continue as investors remove their wealth from the precious metal and move it into other commodities and equities with higher yields and less risk. Weir Group PLC, manufacturers of the equipment used by miners, such as valves and piping, have also been hit by the decline, retreating by 0.5 percent.
