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Summary
- FTSE 100 surged as much as 1.91 per cent to hit an intraday peak of 6,304.32 on 10 November
- Shares of Rolls Royce Plc was the biggest intraday FTSE 100 gainers rising nearly 29 per cent
UK stock markets went on to gain further momentum on Tuesday tracking the upbeat global markets with FTSE 100 rising nearly 2 per cent. Investors’ sentiments seemed to have received a major boost with the optimistic outcome of Phase 3 of clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
On 9 November, Pfizer and BioNTech in a joint communication informed that a mRNA-based vaccine candidate has shown evidence of efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 virus with an effectiveness of 90% in preventing the coronavirus disease.
In the fallout of that development, FTSE 100 surged to hit an intraday peak of 6,304.32 following the sharp uptick in the Rolls Royce share price. However, Wall Street was oscillating in red with the headline index Dow Jones Industrial Average slipping into negative territory after opening flat.
FTSE 100 (1-week performance)
(Source: Thomson Reuters)
Shares of London-headquartered engineering major, Rolls Royce Plc (LON: RR), jumped approximately 29 per cent on Tuesday. The stock of Rolls Royce was the biggest gainer among the constituents of benchmark FTSE 100. Rolls Royce share price advanced as much as 28.8 per cent to a multi-month high of GBX 128.80 a piece from the previous closing price of GBX 100 per share. Though by the end of the day it cooled down a lot and ended at GBX 107.00, up by 7 per cent from the previous close.
Rolls Royce (1-week performance)
(Source: Thomson Reuters)
Other than the shares of Rolls Royce, a bunch of other heavyweight large-cap stocks contributed to the gains of FTSE 100 on Tuesday. Shares of the London-based telecommunications giant BT Group Plc (LON: BT.A) soared 12.51 per cent to a day’s peak of GBX 119.20 on 10 November. The stock of BT Group went on to add gains as the trading progressed after slipping briefly into the negative zone on starting flat in the morning.
BT Group (1-week performance)
(Source: Thomson Reuters)
A large section of large-cap constituents of FTSE 100 swelled more than 5 per cent steering the key index to extend gains. The stocks of Croda International Plc (LON: CRDA) (7.04 per cent), Imperial Brands Plc (LON: IMB) (up 5.99 per cent), International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON: IAG) (up 5.88 per cent), Smith (DS) Plc (LON:SMDS) (up 5.76 per cent), Associated British Foods Plc (LON: ABF) (4.68 per cent), Smiths Group Plc (LON: SMIN) (7.80 per cent), Compass Group Plc (LON: CPG) (up 5.36 per cent) and WPP Plc (LON: WPP) (up 4.83 per cent) were some of the major gainers on FTSE 100 apart from Rolls Royce and BT Group.
The aforementioned shares contributed majorly to the upswing witnessed in the benchmark FTSE 100 index on Tuesday. While a bunch of large-cap shares restricted any massive gains with substantial drop in the respective share prices. Shares of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc (LON: SMT) (down 6.73 per cent), Ocado Group Plc (LON: OCDO) (down 5.21 per cent), Flutter Entertainment Plc (LON:FLTR) (down 4.48 per cent), Homeserve Plc (LON:HSV) (down 3.91 per cent) and London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LON: LSE) (down 3.53 per cent) were the major laggards on 10 November.
The optimism in the investors in November has been on the rise, first after the US presidential election, which saw Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden emerging as the clear winner defeating US President Donald Trump by a sizable margin. The second good news was the successful clinical trial of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine.
