FTSE finishes with a flourish for Christmas

The leading share index in the UK closed for its festive break with a rise sparked by technical indicators and driven by very thin trading volumes. By the end of Friday's half day session, the FTSE 100 was up by 1 per cent, adding an extra 55 points to close at 5512 for Christmas.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Tuesday, December 27, 2011

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The index broke through the 5500 mark nudging the index into the black for December so far. However, despite the marginal upward movement, analysts say that in order to break the downward pattern seen in recent months the blue chips need to reach at least 5600.

More encouraging data from the US renewed hopes that the worst may be over for the global powerhouse and with optimism over the debt crisis in Europe following the cash injection, appetite for risk was back on the table. This led to gains in the commodity sectors, most notably oil firms.

Tullow Oil topped the leaderboard with a gain of 3.1 per cent whilst its peers BP and BG Group fared equally well with rises of 2.1 and 1 per cent respectively.

Miners were also back in favour with the sector climbing as the price of copper firmed by 1 per cent. This allowed mining specialist Antofagasta to make the top 10 of the day, posting an increase of 2.4 per cent.

Outside the top index, Black Leisure Group was in real trouble. The retailing group had put itself up for sale in a last ditch attempt to prevent the business from entering into administration. However, it was forced to admit there had been no enquiries meaning that by January 2012, it may be forced to simply sell off its assets and put itself into liquidation. The news sent the shares tumbling by 57.14 per cent, to plummet to just 0.9 pence each.

 

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