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Highlights
- FTSE100 trades marginally in the green, up by 0.16%, while mid-cap focused FTSE250 index was up by 0.54%.
- Casino and Gambling stocks saw some buying interest from investors.
FTSE100 trades in the positive territory, up by 0.16% at 7,137 in the mid-morning trade, while mid-cap focused FTSE250 index was up 0.54%, above the crucial 24,000 mark. Casino and Gambling stocks saw some buying interest from the investors, with Entain Plc moving up by 1.79%, Flutter Entertainment Plc gaining 1.83%. Also, FTSE250 listed Rank Group Plc moved higher by 3.71% after the company announced that it would receive £80 million from UK tax authorities as a refund on VAT paid on slot machine income during the period from April 2006 to January 2013. UK tax authority has decided not to appeal the court ruling which was in favour of the company.
Top five FTSE100 gainers
Ocado Group Plc (3.11%), Weir Group Plc (3.04%), International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (2.32%), Standard Chartered Plc (1.99%), Entain plc (1.87%).
Top five FTSE100 losers
Severn Trent Plc (-1.13%), United Utilities Group Plc (-1.03%), Unilever plc (-0.97%), London Stock Exchange Group plc (-0.93%), Fresnillo (-0.85%).
European Markets
Major European market indexes are showing a mixed trend. The German blue-chip DAX index is down by 0.13% at 15,885, while the benchmark index of France, CAC 40, was at 6,681, up by 0.25%. German stock exchange trades lower after weak business sentiment data. The business sentiments declined for the second successive month as companies expect the coming months’ outlooks to be dimmer due to rising Covid-19 cases and supply chain issues.
Currency Markets
In the currency market, the pound traded marginally lower against the dollar at 1.3726, down by 0.02%; the dollar has been trading range-bound against the major European currencies as investors wait for Friday’s Jackson Hole conference, which could give some hint about the Federal Reserve’s next step on tapering bond-buying scheme. The EUR/ GBP currency pair traded at 0.8561, up by 0.03%.
Commodities
WTI crude oil future contract traded at USD 67.34, up by 0.10%, while the Brent crude oil trades at USD 70.47, up by 0.09%. Crude oil prices are trading marginally higher above the USD 70 mark. The consecutive two-day rally of over 8% in the benchmark crude oil contracts erased most of the losses from last week, which saw the biggest fall in crude oil price in the last nine months.
Meanwhile, the Gold futures contract traded in the red zone below the 1800 mark, down by 0.73% at USD 1795 per ounce.
Asian Markets
Major Asia Pacific indexes were trading mixed towards the day close. Shanghai Composite of China closed in green, up by 0.74% at 3,540, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed in red, down by 0.13% at 25,693. India’s Nifty 50 closed at 16,634, up by 0.06%, while the Nikkei 225 of Japan closed at 27,724, down by 0.03%. Australia’s ASX200 closed at 7,531, up by 0.39%.
