Top Stories
UK’s FTSE 100 touches near 7-month high as BoE rate cut bets gain traction
Published by Wanda Rich
Posted on December 20, 2023
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.
Published by Wanda Rich
Posted on December 20, 2023
UK’s FTSE 100 touches near 7-month high as BoE rate cut bets gain traction
By Shashwat Chauhan
(Reuters) -British equities jumped on Wednesday as investors cheered a surprise drop in domestic inflation, which spurred hopes that the Bank of England (BoE) could consider interest rate cuts early next year.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 advanced 0.9% as of 0902 GMT, touching its highest level since May. 24 earlier in the session, outpacing the pan-European STOXX 600, which was trading flat. [.EU]
The pound dropped 0.5% after official data showed British inflation fell by more than any economist polled by Reuters predicted in November, pushing the headline rate to its lowest since September 2021.
“Let’s not be churlish, the latest UK inflation numbers deliver a welcome shot in the arm for the UK economy,” said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.
Hewson added that the inflation figures would “give markets faith that interest rates will follow the trajectory they’ve already bought into.”
The annual rate of increase in the consumer prices index dropped to 3.9% from 4.6% in October.
Investors moved to price in two quarter-point rate cuts by the BoE for the first half of next year, with the first potentially coming as soon as March.
The domestically-inclined FTSE 250 midcap index also added 0.9%, hitting an over seven-month high.
Rate-sensitive real estate, real estate investment trusts and homebuilders advanced between 0.8% and 1.1%.
Heavyweight energy stocks added 1.6%, boosted by higher crude oil prices, while banks jumped 1.2%.
Most major FTSE 350 sectors rallied, with travel and leisure and life insurers amongst top gainers, rising more than 1% each.
Yields on UK government bonds also fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt last at 3.549%.
Among individual stocks, Intertek Group jumped 3.1% after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded the product testing company’s rating to “outperform” from “underperform”.
Petrofac soared over 40% after the oilfield services provider secured a $1.4 billion contract.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Janane Venkatraman)