FTSE-100 Index Edges Higher by 1.66% at Close of Trade

US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 43.67 points or 1.54 per cent higher at 2,886.41, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index expanded by 324.28 points or 1.37 per cent higher at 24,074.04, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 8,859.00, up by 148.28 points or 1.70 per cent against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 11:05 AM ET).

US News: Wall Street opened higher with optimism over the reopening of economic activities. Meanwhile, the US trade deficit recorded as USD 44.4 billion in March, as per the Census Bureau since export and import fell sharply by 9.6 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively. Moreover, US Service index fell 11 years low to 41.8 points in April (52.5 points in March), as per Institute for Supply Management. Adjacently, the US oil prices extended one week gain of around 77 per cent and jumped to one month high. Among the gainers, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. surged over 3 per cent each, as oil price hit one month high. Fiat Chrysler rose over 1 per cent despite reporting a massive loss as it is progressing with the merger of PSA Group. Pfizer gained around 2.5 per cent, as it began trial for the potential Covid-19 vaccine. Starbucks surged over 4 per cent, as it reckoned the reopening of 85 per cent of US stores by this week. Among the laggards, Norwegian Cruise plunged 14.99 per cent, as it is sceptical about its potential to weather the Covid-19 disruption and sustain the business. Hertz tumbled 14 per cent, as it is acting towards bankruptcy.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Performers*: IPG Photonics Corp, Mosaic Co, and Alliance Data Systems Corp shares increased by 15.60 per cent, 12.75 per cent and 8.76 per cent, respectively.

Non Performers*: Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, Westrock Co and Unum Group shares decreased by 15.03 per cent, 12.37 per cent and 8.06 per cent, respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*: Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc, Genprex Inc and MicroVision Inc shares expanded by 128.67 per cent, 87.88 per cent and 59.09 per cent, respectively.

Worst Performers*: Oxford Immunotec Global Plc, Fulgent Genetics Inc and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust Inc shares plunged by 19.64 per cent, 19.42 per cent and 19.08 per cent, respectively.

Top Performing Sectors*: Energy (+2.90 per cent), Industrials (+2.09 per cent) and Financials (+2.04 per cent).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Performers*: Dow Inc, Chevron Corp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc are the top gainers and increased by 4.17 per cent, 4.01 per cent and 3.04 per cent, respectively.

Non Performers*: Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, Boeing Co and Procter & Gamble Co shares decreased by 0.66 per cent, 0.48 per cent and 0.22 per cent, respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 95.64 points or 1.66 per cent higher at 5,849.42, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 141.46 points or 0.89 per cent higher at 16,093.14, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 47.31 points or 1.49 per cent higher at 3,225.90, respectively. Another European index STOXX 600 ended up by 7.06 points or 2.15 per cent, at 335.50. Among other major European indices, DAX index closed the session at 10,729.46, up by 262.66 points or 2.51 per cent; CAC 40 index increased by 104.90 points or 2.40 per cent and ended the trading session at 4,483.13.

European News: London and European markets boosted up with the revival of economic activities in several countries while the energy stocks followed a surge in oil prices. Subsequently, Royal Dutch Shell and BP PLC soared over 6 per cent each. In other economic news, UK new car sales plummeted 97 per cent in April. Meanwhile, Britain sold GBP 3.25 billion of 5-Year Government bond at a yield of lesser than 0.02 per cent. Among other stocks, Total SA climbed over 6 per cent post maintaining its dividend despite a fall in quarterly profits. HelloFresh gained over 9 per cent due to improved first-quarter performance. Pandora rose over 5 per cent post reopening of some stores with encouraging online sales. Among the laggards, Ferrari NV fell nearly 2 per cent due to the falling car registration. Hugo Boss slipped about 4 per cent post reporting a 17 per cent decline in the first-quarter sales.

London Stock Exchange

Top Performers*: BATM ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS LD (BVC), SIG PLC (SHI) and AMIGO HOLDINGS PLC (AMGO) accelerated significantly by 17.24 per cent, 14.78 per cent and 10.37 per cent, respectively.

Worst Performers*: ASA INTERNATIONAL GROUP PLC (ASAI), LOOKERS PLC (LOOK) and ABERFORTH SPLIT LEVEL INCOME TRUST (ASIT) plunged by 14.62 per cent, 10.00 per cent and 6.64 per cent, respectively.

FTSE 100 Index Performance

3 months FTSE 100 Index Performance (May-05-2020), before the market closed (Source: Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters)

Best Gainers*: BP PLC (BP.), ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC 'A' (RDSA) and ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC 'B' (RDSB) expanded by 7.75 per cent, 7.37 per cent and 6.81 per cent, respectively.

Non Performers*: JD SPORTS FASHION PLC (JD.), INTL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES GROUP SA (IAG) and NEXT PLC (NXT) traded in red zone and were down by 4.51 per cent, 3.51 per cent and 3.24 per cent, respectively.

Top Shares traded with high-level volume*: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC; (BARC) BARCLAYS PLC.

Top Sectors traded in the positive zone*: Energy (+6.55 per cent), Telecommunications Services (+3.19 per cent) and Financials (+1.54 per cent).

Top Sector traded in the negative zone*: Consumer Non-Cyclicals (-0.11 per cent).

Oil Prices*: WTI crude oil future price was nudging at $24.44 per barrel, and Brent crude oil future price was trading at $30.62 per barrel.

Forex Rates*: GBP to USD and EUR to GBP were hovering at 1.2435 and 0.8718, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was tilting at 0.646 per cent, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was hovering at 0.196 per cent, respectively.

*At the time of writing