The FTSE 100 index kick-started the year by passing the 6,000-point mark in the very first minutes of Tuesday’s trade, tracking Monday’s gains in the US and Europe.
Risk appetite held strong throughout the first trading session of the year and the FTSE 100 closed up 1.9% or 114 points at 6,014; the FTSE 250 index gained 1.4% or 164 points to 11,722. Strong manufacturing data from the UK and overseas supported market optimism and investors shook off concerns raised by UK’s VAT increase.
The UK’s Purchasing Managers’ Survey for manufacturing exceeded expectations and hit a 16-year high at 58.3 in December, up from 57.5 the month before. Output, export orders and employment all rose rapidly. A source of concern in December’s survey, however, was the pace of inflation, with input price inflation at an all-time high.
Earlier this week, PMI providers Markit released data showing the Eurozone Manufacturing PMI at a eight-month high of 56.8 and the Global Manufacturing PMI at a six-month high of 55.
Commenting on the global survey, David Hensley, Director of Global Economics Coordination at JPMorgan, said: “This acceleration towards year-end suggests the sector will enter 2011 on a firmer footing than looked likely at the end of Q3. Job creation also remained solid, which will be a boost for the broader economic recovery."
Elsewhere, Bank of England figures showed a continuous weakness in the UK housing market in November. Mortgage approvals improved slightly to 48,019 from 47,315 in October, while lending secured on dwellings rose £0.8 billion in November, compared to a £1.2 billion increase in October, leaving them slightly above the previous six-month average of £0.7 billion.
Wall Street markets, having traded higher on the back of strong data for factory activity and construction projects on Monday, opened on a more sombre note today, which took some steam of the rally in London. US indices are lower at the time of writing.
Among individual market movers, BP (BP.), up 5.9%, came on top of London’s blue-chip index and reached a six-month high after the company announced that compensation payouts for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill might be much lower than expected. In addition, BP’s equities benefitted from market rumours for a takeover interest from Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) and higher energy prices. Peer Tullow Oil (TLW) gained 3.7% after crude oil futures hit a 27-month high in New York yesterday.
British Airways (BAY) gained 4.9% fuelled by speculation that it has an interest in acquiring a stake in the Scandinavian airline SAS AB (SAS), alongside Deutsche Lufthansa (LHA) and Air France-KLM (AF).
Heavyweight financials Barclays (BARC) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) added 4.2% and 4.1% respectively after RBS was raised to outperform from neutral by Exane BNP Paribas.
Rolls Royce (RR.) joined the group of top risers, up 4.1% as EasyJet (EZJ) announced plans to order 15 Airbus planes. The budget airline itself rallied 4%.
Also riding the bullish wave within the travel and leisure sector, Carnival (CCL) gained 3.8% on the back of a broker upgrade and TUI Travel (TT.) closed 3.9% higher.
On the flipside, gold miner Randgold Resources (RRS) closed 1.9% down after the price of gold softened as investors sought profits in riskier assets.
Food retailer Associated British Foods (ABF) and foodservice provider Compass Group (CPG) slipped 1.4% and 2.2% respectively in a day saturated with analyses of the detrimental effect of the UK’s latest VAT hike on the purchasing power of the UK consumer.
Despite today equity market movements, Shore Capital Analysts Clive Black, Darren Shirley and Ramona Tipnis commented that the “food market will be more resilient albeit not immune to impact of the VAT increase”, while they harbour greatest concerns over big ticket non-food and discretionary leisure expenditure.