UK and European markets started the month of September with a small rally. The benchmark FTSE 100 index pushed up by 47 points, or 0.8%, to close at 5,758. The FTSE 250 index also rose by nearly 1%, closing at 11,503.
Markets have been “buoyed by a belief that central banks stand ready to support the global economy,” said Yusuf Heusen, a trader at IG Index.
This belief was strengthened after the latest Chinese manufacturing data was weaker than expected, raising hopes that the Chinese government will provide some form of economic stimulus to give the country’s economy a boost.
“The reaction to the data out of China is yet another example of investors reading into the positives despite a somewhat bleak backdrop of economic activity,” explains Joshua Raymond, chief market strategist at City Index. The latest “HSBC Chinese manufacturing PMI fell to 47.6 from 49.3, hitting its lowest levels since March 2009 and marking a tenth successive monthly deterioration of conditions. Yet still investors continue to use weak Chinese data as a sign that the country will be forced to ramp up stimulus plans and it is this optimism that has helped to increase demand for heavyweight miners in trading,” said Raymond.
The large miners on the FTSE 350 ultimately pushed today’s rally forward. On the FTSE 100, stocks such as Fresnillo (FRES), Kazakhmys (KAZ) and Vedanta Resources (VED) rallied between 2.5% and 4.5%.
The much-awaited market event this week is a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting on Thursday. The market is pinning its hopes on ECB president Mario Draghi announcing plans to buy the sovereign bonds of peripheral countries such as Italy and Spain.
“Patience could be running thin for Mario Draghi to deliver on his previous claims to 'do whatever it takes' to preserve the euro,” said Raymond. “Whilst the markets are hot with anticipation that Draghi and the ECB will act, there is also the potential for a 'buy the rumour sell the fact' scenario, particularly if the ECB refrains from announcing the much anticipated plans on Thursday or if the scale of the plans is seen as too weak.”