Stocks tested 5,450 mark today, closed up only 0.2%

Today the FTSE 100 index reached an intra-day high of 5,459.23 but ultimate failed to close past 5,450. Up 11.04 points or 0.2 per cent the FTSE 100 index managed to find 5,439 by close of trading on a low-volume day. This is the highest close in four months.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Monday, September 06, 2010

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Investor sentiment is picking up as an improved outlook for the global economy pushed up banking and energy stocks. Whilst the index is at its highest level since April the 30th it is still over 6 per cent down from the mid-April peak. In mid-April investors rapidly sold shares as worries about Eurozone sovereign debt came to light.

Today oil and gas producers gained substantially. Tullow Oil recovered a little more of its recent losses to close up by 2.25 per cent reaching 1,182p. BP which counts for a large weighting on the FTSE 100 index moved up by 1.2 per cent after analysts at Morgan Stanley suggested that there is the potential for a 50 per cent increase in the value of the company's shares.

Banking stocks made progress through the day. Lloyds Banking Group closed up by 0.2 per cent by the end of the day, missing the one per cent intra-day peak. Royal Bank of Scotland is up 0.7 per cent while HSBC managed to gain 1.3 per cent, closing at 663.8p.

However some stocks slipped. GlaxoSmithKline came under pressure after reports that its anti-diabetes drug could be withdrawn from sale in the UK on worries that it raises risk of heart attacks in patients. The drugs company lost 1.54 per cent.

 

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