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Summary
- London’s blue-chip index trades in red but managed to stay above the crucial 7000 mark, tracking the Asian market.
- The index received much needed support from the metal sector, which was the top performer of the day.
FTSE 100 started the week in negative territory; the blue-chip index was just managing to stay above the 7000-mark, trading at 7009, down by 0.23%. The index received support from the metal sector. Stocks from the metal sector were the top performer of the day like Evraz Plc, which was up by 2.04%, ahead of its trading announcement this week, Antofagasta Plc up by 1.88% and Rio Tinto Plc, up by 1.86% ahead of the interim result which the company is going to announce on 28 July 2021. Mid-cap focused FTSE250 was marginally up by 0.10% at the 22,907 levels.
European Markets
Major European market indexes also traded in the red. German blue-chip DAX index was down by 0.34% at 15615, tracking losses in the Asian Market. German Ifo business climate index, which tracks the current German business climate based on the survey of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, saw a decline in July 2021 to 100.8 compared to the previous month data of 101.7 because of the recent rise in Covid cases, which caused weaker sentiments, while the CAC40 benchmark index of France was at 6561, down by 0.11%.
Currency Markets
The pound is quoting higher at 1.3796, up by 0.37% against the US dollar; the dollar is trading lower against the pound ahead of the policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve. The US will declare its second-quarter gross domestic product forecast on Thursday. The EUR/ GBP currency pair traded at 0.8547, down by 0.16%.
Commodities
WTI crude oil future contract traded at USD 71.94, down by 0.18%, while the Brent crude oil trades at USD 73.35, up by 0.15%. Oil futures are trading lower on Monday over the concern of recent rise in cases of delta variant and report of Chinese oil import reduction due to high oil prices.
Gold August futures contract was trading in the green, up by 0.22% at USD 1805 per ounce.
Cryptocurrency
Major cryptocurrency trade in the positive zone, Bitcoin was up by 12% at USD 38590. The world’s largest cryptocurrency jumped over 22% during the weekend. One of the reasons for the significant rise in price is because of Job advertisement posted by the e-commerce giant Amazon for the Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead. The advert was the reason for the great excitement in the hopes that Amazon will soon accept Bitcoin as a payment mode for its e-commerce website. Amazon has not yet confirmed any news on cryptocurrency acceptance. Another major cryptocurrency, Ethereum, traded at USD 2341, up by 9.11%.
Asian Markets
Major Asia Pacific indexes closed the day in red, with Australia’s ASX200 snapping the day at 7394, a tad lower by 0.01%. Shanghai Composite of China closed in red, down by 2.34% at 3467, after the crackdown on major edtech companies. The Chinese government has decided to reform its tech education sector and ban companies that teach school level education from raising capital or going public. Nikkei 225 of Japan closed in the green, up by 1.04% at 27833, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed in red, down by 3.30% at 26220. India’s Nifty 50 closed at 15824, down by 0.20%.
