Thursday, 28th December: The FTSE 100 was torn between red and green for most of the day. After opening in green, it was in red by around 10:00 GMT, but then up again shortly after 11:00 GMT, then back in red after 15:00 GMT. It was commodities to the rescue once again, as the commodity focused stocks helped push up the index and brought it close to another record high around mid-day.
Indexes across the pond were also moving up, but with more confidence thanks to the major tech companies, mainly Apple, but also including Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet. A dip in US 10-year bond yields added pressure to the dollar, which was down around 0.31% against GBP, 0.35% against EUR, and 0.36% against CNY. However, three of the major indexes were all up at around 14:30 GMT, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and The NASDAQ Composite, up 0.21%, 0.11% and 0.19% respectively.
We’ve had a pretty quiet day in the UK, with not much to report back. The most recent highs across the FTSE 100 which have allowed the index to reach record levels have been largely due to the helping hand from commodities, but the index closed nearly flat after moving indecisively across yesterday’s close, and ended the day 0.03% higher at 7622. However, companies such as British American Tobacco and Unilever were both down, 0.90% and 0.25% respectively due to gains made by the pound.