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Summary
- FTSE 100 closed at a 6-month high with GBP vs USD pair scaling a 12-month peak at the foreign exchange market
- The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 scaled their respective record peaks on Thursday
UK stock markets overrode the intraday marginal losses in the afternoon deals on Thursday, December 3, with the key stock index FTSE 100 hitting a six-month peak. FTSE 100 fell slightly into negative territory in the mid-morning trades on the back of renewed fears over the prospective trade agreement between the United Kingdom administration and the European Union. The Great Britain pound rallied to a 12-month high level against the United States dollar in the late trade that lifted the equity sentiments, steering the FTSE 100 index to conclude at a six-month high.
Nonetheless, the investors’ sentiments were impacted despite a fast vaccine approval by Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The UK government was looking forward to receiving 800,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine shot co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The restated fears due to the ongoing deliberations with regards to the Brexit arrangement before the December 31 deadline kept the investors on their toes.
The factors including businesses across England adapting to the recently-imposed three-tier system and the operating according to the latest guidance prescribed by the government, and the consequential developments in the apparent trade deal between the UK and EU initiated gloominess in the minds of the market participants.
FTSE 100 at a 6-month high
The benchmark FTSE 100 closed marginally higher at 6,490.27, up 26.88 points or, 0.42 per cent as compared to the previous closing of 6,463.39, while the broader share indicator FTSE 250 rallied 254.67 points or, 1.28 per cent to finish at fresh nine-month high of 20,132.44. FTSE 100, at a six-month high, is still 14.65 per cent down on a year-to-date (YTD) basis as the index has not reversed the complete losses generated during the Covid-19 pandemic-laden stock market slump.
FTSE 100 (6-month performance)
(Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
GBP at 12-month high
The Great Britain pound (GBP) strengthened against the US counterpart registering a 12-month high on Thursday. The GBP surged to end at a 12-month peak of 1.3450 against USD on December 3.
GBP vs USD (1-year performance)
(Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
Nasdaq, S&P 500 end at record high
Meanwhile, in America, the markets registered record highs with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the broader share index S&P 500 hitting their respective all-time highs, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) managed to close in positive territory after a dull macroeconomic data.
The vaccine approval in America following the urgent authorisation application filed by pharma firms Pfizer and Moderna kept the market on a positive footing.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) is not likely to approve the vaccine shots prepared by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna at least before 10 December as the drug regulator is scheduled to hold a couple of public briefings in December.
The people filing the claims for jobless benefits in the past week dropped marginally but stayed at a high number of more than 700,000.
The Dow Industrials ended at 29,969.52, up 85.73 points or 0.29 per cent, Nasdaq Composite finished at 12,377.18, up 27.82 points or 0.23 per cent, while S&P 500 closed marginally lower at 3,666.72, down 2.29 points or 0.06 per cent on Thursday.
DJIA (6-month performance)
(Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
Nasdaq Composite (6-month performance)
(Source: EODHD/Others, Thomson Reuters)
The sharp surge in the share prices of Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) helped in lifting the Dow Industrials as the stock went up by 7 per cent after the Ireland-based budget air carrier Ryanair placed an order of 75 jets.
The stock of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), the soon-to-be-inducted share in S&P 500, zoomed 4 per cent providing a substantial contribution in the Nasdaq rally.
