Rangebound FTSE stagnant; miners drop as bankers rise
The top share index in the UK was marginally lower on Tuesday as there was little activity as investors remained within a tight range seen in the last fortnight. By the end of the session, the FTSE 100 was lower by 0.1 per cent, with 7 points knocked off the index to close at 5892.
Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The bluechips have barely budged since 3 February, having remained between 5850 and 5900 and some analysts have interpreted this as a good sign as the markets have had to endure some difficult conditions. Data arriving from the US was less encouraging and Citigroup adopted a bearish approach for the next 3-6 months as it predicted that the recovery will soon grind to a halt.
But whilst the recent revival was not being taken for granted, the banks were enjoying another strong performance after China confirmed that it would continue to provide economic support to Europe. They were also given a lift after French bank BNP Paribas announced forecast-beating figures. Barclays was a notable climber, adding 2.8 per cent after brokers pushed up its target price. HSBC and Standard Chartered were also amongst the top 10 performers of the day with increases of 2.56 and 2.21 per cent.
AstraZeneca was the worst stock of the day, losing 3.96 per cent as it, along with GlaxoSmithKline, Unilever, BP and Shell all went ex-dividend.
Miners exerted a strong downward pressure on the index after the results from the US were released, with the heaviest casualty Anglo American dropping by 2.96 per cent.
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