Despite some market setbacks throughout the week, particularly on Thursday, the benchmark FTSE 100 index locked in a decent gain in the first week of August.
The strong overall rally on Friday was pushed ahead by financial services and mining companies. In particular, the financial services firm Prudential (PRU) and the copper producer Kazakhmys (KAZ) were standout performers.
“The FTSE, for all of the bad news over the last few months (and there has been a lot), remains solidly within the top half of the trading range of the year to date and is still up from the 2011 closing price,” points out Simon Denham, CEO at Capital Spreads.
The general banking sector also got a boost on Friday after the partially-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) reported first-half earnings results that met general market expectations. The bank reported a pre-tax loss of £1.5 billion, but investors had been prepared for a loss and reacted by bidding shares higher.
A variety of other London-traded banks reported earnings over the last week. To learn about Morningstar’s assessment of the different banks, read “Bank Earnings Update.”
Across the pond, the US jobs data for July surprised to the upside, showing the American economy created 163,000 non-farm jobs last month. This data from the US Labor Department exceeded economists’ expectations. However, it’s important to note that despite the rise in non-farm payrolls, the overall American jobless rate ticked up to 8.3% from 8.2%.
Looking ahead to next week, there are a variety of economic announcements that could move the market. The Bank of England’s Inflation Report, which gives a forecast for UK growth and inflation, will be particularly important for understanding current and expected macroeconomic trends in Britain. Plus, “the coming week witnesses another round of monetary policy announcements with the RBA (Tuesday) and BoJ (Thursday) due; both are expected to remain on hold,” explains an economic report from Investec Securities.
Market Performance (July 30 - August 3):
FTSE 100 Index: +2.84%
FTSE 250 Index: +1.09%
FTSE UK All Share Index: +2.59%
FTSE Small-Cap Index: +1.57%
FTSE AIM 100 Index: +1.49%
FTSE Fledgling: +0.80%
See the daily market commentary articles from earlier in the week:
Monday: FTSE 100 Jumps 3.5% in 3 Days
Tuesday: FTSE Rally Halted as Earnings, Central Banks Weigh
Wednesday: FTSE Defies Gloom and Rallies Ahead
Thursday: ECB's Draghi Disappoints and FTSE Flops