FTSE 100 closes at record high despite gold sell-off
And finally…. the UK’s blue-chip share index has closed at a new all-time high.
The FTSE 100 has ended the session at a fresh peak of 10,341 points tonight, as traders piled into retailers, banks, airlines and hospitality firms.
The Footsie earlier touched a new intraday high of 10,345 points, as traders brushed off concerns about the selloff in precious metals, oil and crypto assets.
JD Sports (+6%) was the top riser on the FTSE 100, followed by Intercontinental Hotels (+4.1%).
Airline group IAG (+3.6%) benefitted from the drop in the oil price today, while AstraZeneca (+3.2%) after its shares also began trading in New York for the first time today.
Stocks gained despite the weakening precious metals prices – gold is down 3.8% today at $4,676 an ounce, and silver is down 6.8% at $79 an ounce.
That hit bullion producer Endeavour Mining (-2.6%), who were the top faller.
Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index, says gold has experienced a “brutal correction”, after soaring in recent weeks.
“The gold forecast has shifted dramatically over the past few sessions. After racing to fresh all-time highs last week, gold suffered a violent reversal towards the end of last week. That volatility carried through to today’s session, with prices plunging by almost 10% at one point before finding some tentative support. While both gold and silver managed to bounce off their lows once European trading got underway this morning, the damage has clearly been done from a technical perspective.”
“From a macro perspective, several of the key drivers that pushed gold higher are now starting to fade. One of the biggest bullish themes had been concerns about US monetary policy credibility, especially with political pressure on the Federal Reserve and persistent calls for rate cuts.”
“The next big test for the gold forecast will come from US macro data. This week is packed with key releases, including ISM surveys, JOLTS job openings and, most importantly, Friday’s US non-farm payrolls report. Ahead of those, we saw the ISM manufacturing PMI data come in stronger, showing US manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace since 2022. This kept the dollar on the front foot.”
Goodnight. GW
Britain’s share index of medium-sized companies, the FTSE 250, has also had a solid day.
The FTSE 250 index is up 100 points, or 0.43%, at 23,353 points in late trading, led by cruise operator Carnival (+7.5%).
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