London’s stock market delivered more bullish gains on Wednesday with the FTSE 100 continuing to edge higher and FTSE 250 hitting a record high, as vaccination and economic recovery continues to boost investors’ morale.
The blue-chip index of leading shares FTSE 100 closed the mid-week session with a high of almost a percentage point, as it finished up nearly 62 points, or 0.91 per cent higher at 6,885.
While domestically focused midcap FTSE 250 surged as high as 22,177 during trading, breaching the previous peak set of 22,108 when Boris Johnson won December 2019 General Election. On Wednesday, the index closed 166 points ahead at 22,160.
On the FTSE 250, shopping centre owner Hammerson moved 6.8 per cent higher, Upper Crust owners SSP gained 6.5 per cent, software company Bytes Technology was up by 5.8 per cent.
The US markets saw a mixed closing on Wednesday as S&P 500 hit another record high this week rising 0.1 per cent to 4,079 nudged by several big tech companies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1 percent to 33,446. The Nasdaq fell 0.1 percent to 13,688.
Stocks in the Asia-Pacific also saw a mixed opening on Thursday with Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 up 1.18 per cent. The Shanghai composite declined 0.26 per cent on opening but recovered after the trade began, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.14 per cent and kept rising in the early hours. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.34 per cent and continued trading in red.
Indian indices opened higher on Thursday following US stocks, with Sensex opening 0.4 per cent up at 49,885 and Nifty 50 opening at 0.4 per cent higher at 14,875. The bank stocks picked up their Wednesday rally again as the country’s Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held a repo rate, as widely expected, to support the economy, leading to the Nifty bank opening 150 points higher. Metal and auto indexes also posted gains.