Copyright © 2021 Kalkine Media Pty Ltd.
Summary
- FTSE 100 bounced back to positive territory in the late afternoon deals
- London equities seemingly favoured the expanded rollout of vaccines and the exit roadmap
FTSE 100 bounced back to positive territory in the late afternoon deals on Monday, 8 March, tracking the upbeat European equities. All the major European stock indices added gains as Wall Street inched higher in the opening trade, with the Dow Industrials rising more than 0.80 per cent. On the other hand, the broader S&P 500 traded marginally changed in the positive region, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped a little over 0.80 per cent.
Meanwhile, the notable European benchmarks rose in the mid-afternoon deals. France’s CAC 40 jumped 1.57 per cent, Germany’s DAX rose 2.28 per cent, Spain’s IBEX 35 rallied 1.51 per cent, Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 2.56 per cent, Switzerland’s SMI jumped 1.63 per cent.
Back in London, the headline FTSE 100 registered an intraday peak of 6,700.74, up 1.05 per cent from the previous close of 6,630.52. The wider share indicators, including FTSE 250, FTSE 350 and FTSE All-Share rose in a largely similar fashion. The part of the domestic rally was supported by the Wall Street cheer as market participants celebrated the Senate go-ahead on the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill.
Upcoming signals
London equities are seemingly favouring the expanding reach of the ongoing vaccination programme and the simultaneous framework that has paved the way for the phased reopening of businesses, schools, and other non-essential activities from the weeks-long national lockdown.
In the present quarter, the investors have already digested the major macroeconomic actions and developments, with the Bank of England maintaining the key lending rates at a record low level of 0.1 per cent and the GDP growing by a per cent in the October-December quarter.
The upcoming cues from the execution of exit roadmap and developments around the spread of Covid-19 variants, rate of hospitalisations, and the subsequent number of fatal cases are some of the major factors that are likely to steer the equity market direction in the near future.
Other than this, the major releases by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the comments around the economic recovery will be sharply eyed.