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Summary
- London’s key equity index FTSE 100 is likely to open on a negative footing on Wednesday
- Asian stock traded moderately higher to negative, with South Korea’s Kospi leading the losses
- A large part of the morning gains amidst the Asian equities was propelled by the upbeat Wall Street
- Earlier on 9 March, Nasdaq Composite posted a cumulative gain of 3.69 per cent at the close
London’s key equity index FTSE 100 is likely to open on a negative footing on Wednesday, 10 March, as market participants remain uncertain, with a gradual uptick in long-term interest rates in the bond markets. The futures linked to FTSE 100 slid more than 0.80 per cent in the early deals, indicating a lower start to the London equities.
Asian stocks retreat
Asian stock markets traded moderately higher to negative on Wednesday with South Korea’s Kospi leading the losses amid the major Asian peers. As per the latest trading data available with respective bourses, Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded flat after resuming activity post lunch, China’s Shanghai Composite fell from day’s high after lunch hours but managed to oscillate in the positive region.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.16 per cent, India’s Nifty 50 gained 0.27 in the mid-morning deals, while the Kospi in Seoul regained marginally after tumbling more than 2 per cent from the intraday peaks. Australia’s ASX 200 has ended the day at 6,714.10, down 0.84 per cent from the previous close of 6,771.20.
Wall Street led gains
A large part of the morning gains amidst the Asian equities was propelled by the upbeat Wall Street, with the Nasdaq Composite rallying more than 3 per cent, reversing the majority of the recent losses. The tech-heavy index posted a cumulative gain of 3.69 per cent at the close after rising 4.3 per cent intraday.
A sharp spike in the Tesla shares contributed the most to the gains of the Nasdaq Composite on Tuesday. As per the Nasdaq trading activity, the stock of Tesla zoomed as much as 20.44 per cent to an intraday high of $678.09 before settling 19.64 per cent higher at $673.58 apiece. Other tech majors, including Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Netflix, gained up to 7 per cent.
Positive local cues
On the domestic front, the Downing Street administration, alongside the healthcare authorities, is pressing hard to vaccinate as many people in the priority groups, effectively steering to a situation of lower infection rate and subsequently less rate of daily hospital admissions as the country prepares to reopen in a phased manner. The ongoing inoculation programme has been quite effective in alleviating the worries of investors, as far as the uncertainties surrounding local healthcare is concerned.
On 9 March itself, Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that more than 22 million people have been given the first vaccine jab, translating into two-fifths of the total adult population of the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the Health Secretary reiterated the notion of immunising the remaining adult population with the first dose by the end of July this year.
GBP hovers in red
Meanwhile, the Great Britain pound (GBP) to United States dollar (USD) pair traded slightly lower on Wednesday as the greenback continued to bounce back on the passage of $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill and the updated global GDP guidance by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
At around 0657 GMT, the GBP to USD pair was trading at 1.3872, down 0.15 per cent from the previous close of 1.3893. During the day so far, the currency pair has shuttled between a narrow range of 1.3849 and 1.3902 at the interbank foreign exchange market. The Bank of England had fixed a currency conversion rate of 1.3812 USD and 1.1648 EUR against a unit of sterling on 8 March.
