FTSE climbs to three-month high after Christmas break
London’s top index moved 0.36%, or 27.44 points higher, to finish at 7,724.95.
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Your support makes all the difference.The FTSE 100 closed at its highest since September as traders returned from Christmas celebrations in high spirits.
It was an unsurprisingly calm trading session amid a dearth of economic updates or company news, but optimism around easing inflation continued to dominate the outlook.
London’s top index moved 0.36%, or 27.44 points higher, to finish at 7,724.95.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The FTSE 100 has risen from its Christmas slumber with gains as positivity pulses through financial markets.
“There are hopes of a soft landing for the US as inflationary forces slow, borrowing costs are forecast to drop and consumers remain resilient.
“There are also expectations that authorities in China will move to stimulate the economy through lower borrowing costs next year.”
The FTSE 100 has risen from its Christmas slumber with gains as positivity pulses through financial markets
Trading was more muted elsewhere in Europe but remained broadly positive.
The Dax index was up 0.21% at the close and the Cac 40 closed up 0.04%.
Stateside, shares on the main indexes moved slightly higher after signs of cooling inflation in the previous trading session last Friday.
Meanwhile, sterling had a strong session against the dollar.
The pound was up 0.55% at 1.279 US dollars and was 0.02% lower at 1.151 euro at market close in London.
In company news, drugs giant AstraZeneca was in the green after it agreed to buy Chinese firm Gracell Biotechnologies for up to 1.2 billion US dollars (£940 million).
The deal will support AstraZeneca’s portfolio with a so-called CAR-T therapy that modifies a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer, as well as boost its position in China’s fast growth biotech sector.
Shares in the business lifted by 92p to 10,528p.
Aviva made modest gains after the insurance and pensions giant said it will make an extra £80 million from the sale of its Singapore Life business.
It first announced the sale in September and on Wednesday told shareholders it will now receive a total of about £930 million from Japan-based buyer Sumitomo Life Insurance for its 26% stake in the company.
It saw shares finish 1.7p higher at 432.8p.
Energy infrastructure firm Petrofac followed up its gains from last week with another strong rise.
Last Wednesday it announced that it has seen “exceptional” new order intake across engineering and construction and asset solutions as it continues its turnaround.
Its shares were up 7.18p to 40p at the end of trading.
The price of oil swung lower during the session after Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had scheduled vessels to travel through the Suez Canal and Red Sea in the coming weeks amid hopes of calming violence in the region.
A barrel of Brent crude oil was down by 1.5% to 79.85 US dollars (£62.40) as markets were closing in London.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Ocado, up 28.2p to 753.2p, Rentokil, up 11.3p to 444.6p, Entain, up 25p to 1,005p, Phoenix Group, up 12.2p to 534.6p, and Anglo American, up 44p to 1,975.8p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Rolls-Royce, down 3.6p to 298.8p, B&M European, down 6.6p to 563p, IMI, down 19p to 1,690p, Smurfit Kappa, down 34p to 3,152p, and BT, down 1.2p to 126.1p.