Wednesday, 17th April: A small sell-off in the mining sector on hump day meant the likes of Rio Tinto and BHP were stuck at the bottom end of the blue-chip index all day, both down more than 2.5% for the majority of the day. At the very bottom was distribution and outsourcing company Bunzl, following a Q1 update which revealed struggles in underlying revenue growth in the three-month period. The news led to the group shedding c.11% off the share price in the morning.
Inflation data today came in slightly lower than expected for March, as it remained the same as what was recorded in February at 1.9%. this was achieved due to hikes in fuel prices over February and March being offset by declines in the price of food and recreational goods. The flow pace of inflation allows the BoE to take a more relaxed approach to tightening monetary policy. The news left the pound almost untouched at lunchtime, up c.0.01% at $1.304 against the dollar.
Consumer spending data was also released today, and revealed that although spending continued to decline, it was at a much softer pace of 0.2% in March, compared to fairly aggressive declines of 1.2% and 1.8% in January and February respectively.
After opening 0.18% lower, the FTSE 100 managed to reverse the damage partly caused by further unfavourable mining data and was able to end the day 0.02% higher at 7471.32.