Interest Rate Cut Fails to Inspire Stock Market

The decision by the Bank of England to cut the Bank Rate by a further 0.5% to 1.5% – the lowest level in the 315 year history of the Bank – on Thursday disappointed stock market traders expecting a full percentage point cut and the FTSE 100 index was down 97 points at one point on Thursday before recovering late in the day.

Michael Parker
shareprices.com - Friday, January 09, 2009

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The market remained flat on Friday morning with U.S. employment figures and a string of announcements from companies in the mid-cap sector expected later in the day. By lunchtime the FTSE 100 was down 0.14%, at 4,499 and the FTSE 250 down 0.18% at 6,680. Enterprise software company, Autonomy Corporation plc was the market leader after it announced on Thursday that full year revenue and profitability for 2008 were expected to be above consensus forecasts.

Retailers JD Sports and Jessops also made strong gains – their share prices rising 12% and 20% respectively – during early trading on Friday as they bucked the recent trend of doom and gloom on the High Street by announcing increased like for like sales over the Christmas and New Year Period. JD Sports, for example, reported that sales for the five weeks to 3rd January were up 2.8% and up 3.8% for the 48 weeks to that date. In the financial sector, HBOS and Standard Chartered also performed well.

 

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