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Highlights
- FTSE100 trades marginally lower ahead of the Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell speech.
- Crude oil prices are trading higher as energy companies shut down production in the Gulf of Mexico after a hurricane forecast in the region.
FTSE100 was marginally in red on Friday afternoon, trading down by 0.10% at 7,118, while mid-cap focused FTSE250 index was in green, trading above the 24,000 mark. The blue-chip index is awaiting direction ahead of the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the annual Jackson Hole conference. The investors’ community will be having a keen eye on the Fed Chair’s speech as they look for clues on the tapering of the monthly asset purchase and interest rate hike.
Top five FTSE100 gainers
Anglo American (1.98%), Pershing Square Holdings Ltd (1.94%), Segro Plc (1.68%), Glencore plc (1.28%), BP Plc (1.26%).
Top five FTSE100 losers
Just Eat Takeaway.com NV (-6.63%), Sainsbury (J) plc (-2.85%), Ocado Group plc (-1.79%), ITV plc (-1.46%), Auto Trader Group plc (-1.31%).
European Markets
Major European market indexes are trading marginally in the red. The German blue-chip DAX index is down by 0.02% at 15,792, while the benchmark index of France, CAC 40, was at 6,654, down by 0.18%. The European markets too are trading in a range-bound manner. According to the European Commission’s report, major European banks are acting very slow in the implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) parameters and need to accelerate the ESG integration. The report was compiled by the asset management firm BlackRock on behalf of the European Commission.
Currency Markets
Major currencies like the dollar, pound, and euro are trading in the range and waiting for direction ahead of the much-anticipated Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech. The pound is trading higher at 1.3708, marginally up 0.07% against the US dollar, while the EUR/ GBP currency pair traded at 0.8564, down by 0.12%.
Commodities
WTI crude oil future contract traded at USD 68.72, up by 1.93%, while the Brent crude oil trades at USD 71.30, up by 1.58%. Crude oil prices are trading higher and is set to post weekly gains after last week fall of over 9%, as investors anticipate a disruption in crude oil supply after a possible hurricane forecast in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend.
Meanwhile, the Gold futures contract trades below the 1800 mark, down by 0.29% at USD 1789.30 per ounce.
Asian Markets
Major Asia Pacific indexes made a mixed closing. Australia’s ASX200 closed at 7,488, down by 0.04%. Shanghai Composite of China closed in green, up by 0.59% at 3,522, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed in red, down by 0.03% at 25,407. India’s Nifty 50 closed at 16,705, up by 0.41%, while the Nikkei 225 of Japan closed at 27,641, down by 0.36%.
