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UK stock markets seem to have stalled on Monday, 18 January, with the FTSE 100 oscillating in a narrow range as investors remain glued to the ongoing vaccine distribution drive. The range bound equity trading session coupled with weaker pound sterling against the United States dollar shoved back the erstwhile vaccine optimism amidst the market participants.
Equities oscillate in a narrow range
The upcoming release of macroeconomic data including the inflation rate for December 2020, followed by the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speech and GFK consumer confidence alongside the continuing corporate numbers is likely to weigh on equities in the current week. Though the fresh commentary on the daily spike in coronavirus cases, rate of hospital admissions, any material change in guidance for respective authorities and vaccination statistics is highly likely to be pivotal for the UK shares.
At around 13:35 GMT, the benchmark FTSE was trading at 6,724.28, down 11.43 points, or 0.17 per cent from the previous close of 6,735.71.
FTSE 100 (18 Jan)
(Source: Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters)
According to the historical data available with the London Stock Exchange, the index has lost a little more than 2 per cent in the last six trading sessions including the provisional losses of Monday after registering a 6.39 per cent gain in the first week of the new year.
During the day so far, FTSE 100 has shuttled in a narrow range of 6,741.47 and 6,711.34, respectively. The broader market barometers followed suit on Monday, barring FTSE 250 index, which was trading 0.29 per cent higher around 13:42 GMT. FTSE 350 and FTSE All-Share lost up to 0.1 per cent in the trade today.
US stocks are likely to open on a negative footing with Dow Industrials beginning a tad lower as New York equities are also tied with the major corporate earnings and the vaccine-related developments in the present week. Dow Jones 30 Futures was trading marginally lower at 30,706 indicating a likelihood of a negative start to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
GBP falls further
The Great Britain pound (GBP) vs USD pair traded at 1.3546, down 0.29 per cent from the previous close of 1.3586 as on 15 January. The currency pair touched a bottom of 1.3521 intraday after claiming a day’s peak at 1.3602 in the wee hours of trading at the interbank foreign exchange market. The Bank of England had fixed a reference exchange rate of 1.3585 USD and 1.1234 EUR against a unit of GBP on 15 January.
