AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
Highlights
- FTSE100 made a soft start of the new week, trading down by around half a per cent in mid-day trade.
- Crude oil prices are trading in the red ahead of the OPEC+ meeting, which starts tomorrow.
FTSE100 made a soft start coming after a long weekend, currently trading down by 0.51% at 7,111, while the mid-cap focused FTSE250 index was holding its head in green, up by 0.13% at 24,089. The sentiments were weighed down by the report of mortgage approvals in the UK, which declined to 75,200 in July, dropping to a 12-month low though still above the average of 66,400 observed in 2015 to 2019. After the data release, UK-based major lenders saw a decline in the stock price, with NatWest Group plc shedding 1.51%, while Lloyds Banking Group Plc was down by 1.29%.
Top five FTSE100 gainers
Ferguson plc (2.05%), Smiths Group Plc (1.72%), Just Eat Takeaway.com NV (1.64%), Imperial Brands Group (1.57%), British American Tobacco plc (1.33%)
Top five FTSE100 losers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (-3.62%), HSBC Holdings plc (-2.85%), Bunzl plc (-2.76%), B&M European Value Retail SA (-2.37%), ITV plc (-2.30%).
European Markets
Major European market indexes are trading in the red. The German blue-chip DAX index is down by 0.47% at 15,813, while the benchmark index of France, CAC 40, was at 6,669, down by 0.26%. Inflation in the Eurozone rose to a ten year high in August 2021 to 3%, well above the European Central Bank (ECB) target of 2%. The rise in fuel cost and industrial goods accelerated the inflation number.
Currency Markets
The pound trades higher against the dollar at 1.3786, up by 0.20%; while the EUR/ GBP currency pair trades in green at 0.8578, up by 0.09%. The US dollar trades at a two-week low against the major European currencies after investors failed to get clear signals from the Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s Friday speech about the next move of the central bank on asset purchases tapering.
Commodities
WTI crude oil future contract traded at USD 68.41, down by 1.16%, while the Brent crude oil trades at USD 71.52, down by 0.98%. Crude oil prices trade lower ahead of the OPEC+ meeting, which starts from tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Gold futures contract traded in the red zone, down by 0.07% at USD 1810 per ounce.
Asian Markets
Major Asia Pacific indexes closed in the green. Australia’s ASX200 closed at 7,534, up by 0.41%, while Shanghai Composite of China closed up by 0.45% at 3,543. Nikkei 225 of Japan closed at 28,089, up by 1.08%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed at 25,878, up by 1.33%. India’s Nifty 50 closed at record levels at 17,132, up by 1.19%.
