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At Global front, shares on the Wallstreet were quoting in green, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 140.77 points or 0.53% to 26,590.31, the S&P 500 was up by 7.11 points or 0.25% to 2,907.56 and the Nasdaq Composite accelerated by 4.50 points or 0.06% to 8,000.59, at the time of writing.
Boosted by purchases of motor vehicles and a range of other goods, U.S. retail sales rose by 1.6 per cent in March, posting its fastest rate in 1-1/2 years. Weekly jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 192,000 last week, dropping to its lowest levels in nearly 50 years.
Looking at the European equity market, FTSE 100 closed at 7,459.88, down by 11.44 points or 0.15% as of April 18, 2019, against the figure of 7,471.32 on April 17, 2019. STOXX 600 that closed at 390.46, was up by 0.87 points or 0.22% against the previous day. Â The FTSE 250 index traded 22.20 points or 0.11% lower at 19,835.93, and the FTSE All-Share index declined by 5.81 points or 0.14% and ended the session at 4,084.74 respectively.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's warned the UK that the US Congress would block any US trade pact that undermines the Irish peace accord and cautioned about Brexit's implications on US trade relations with the UK. According to a poll of economists, the chances that Britain will leave the European Union without a deal are smaller than the possibility that Brexit will be cancelled.
London Stock Exchange Cues
Stocks like TRIFAST PLC (TRI), HOLLYWOOD BOWL GROUP PLC (BOWL) and AVAST PLC (AVST) were among the top gainers on the London Stock Exchange and climbed by 6.51%, 6.14% and 5.77% respectively. On the other side, stocks like PETROFAC LIMITED (PFC), NCC GROUP PLC (NCC) and HAYS PLC (HAS) were among the laggards on the London Stock Exchange and gone down by 10.77%, 6.82% and 4.82% respectively.
FTSE 100 Index
5-day Daily Price Chart (as on April 18, 2019). (Source: Thomson Reuters)
Shares like UNILEVER PLC (ULVR), CRH PLC (CRH) and EXPERIAN PLC (EXPN) were among the top movers on the FTSE 100 index and rose by 2.87%, 2.26% and 1.85% respectively. Whereas, shares like BAE SYSTEMS PLC (BA.), HIKMA PHARMACEUTICALS PLC (HIK) and SMITH & NEPHEW PLC (SN.) were laggards on the FTSE 100 index and decreased by 3.78%, 2.73% and 1.90% respectively.
Shares like Lloyd Banking Group Plc (LLOY), Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) and BARCLAYS PLC (BARC) were among the top volume leaders.
On sector specific front, Basic Materials, Consumer Non-Cyclicals, and Industrials were among the leading performers on the broader index FTSE 100; and on the other side Healthcare, Energy and Telecommunications Services were among the losers on the FTSE 100 index.
Exchange Rates*
- GBP/USD was quoting at 1.2988.
- EUR/GBP was exchanging at 0.8646.
- US 10Y Treasury Bond yield was quoting at 2.560%.
- UK 10Y Bond yield was trading at 1.189%.
