27th Dec 2013 17:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - The main UK stock indices closed higher Friday, with the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 closing up for a sixth consecutive day as the so-called "Santa Rally" continued, supported by positive economic data.
Trading volumes were light because of the holiday season, and as some of those heading back to work after the Christmas break were again delayed by the latest bout of bad weather to hit the UK.
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.9% at 6,750.87, the FTSE 250 closed up 0.6% at 15,878.1, and the AIM All-Share index closed up 0.6% at 841.3.
The UK's primary index is now approximately 100 points higher than its December opening level, having fallen earlier in the month. With just one-and-a-half trading days of 2013 left, it is looking increasingly likely that the FTSE 100 will close December higher than it started the month for the eleventh consecutive year.
Yet another storm hit the UK early Friday, further knocking trading volumes that are traditionally light at this time of year, as many struggled to make it into work. Overnight rain added to the flooding that had already hit many parts of the UK since the biggest depression to hit landfall for over one hundred years swung across the country just before Christmas.
South West Trains said that it anticipates that it will take at least seven days to repair the damage caused to some of their lines.
Friday's session was the first opportunity European traders have had to react to Thursday's upbeat US jobless claims data, which suggested a substantial recovery in the US labor market.
The US Labor Department revealed a steep drop in weekly jobless claims in the week ended December 21, following a sharp jump seen earlier in the month. Initial jobless claims tumbled to 338,000, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 380,000, beating economists expectations of a drop to 345,000 from the 379,000 originally reported for the previous week.
In France, November's jobless claims increased. The number of Class A registered job seekers totalled 3.293 million in November, up 0.5% from the end of October, data from the Labor Ministry showed late Thursday.
This, however, was not enough to stop the French CAC 40 from closing 1.4% higher.
Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 closed up 1.1% at an all-time high of 9,589.39 points.
Data released from Japan showed that its manufacturing sector grew at the sharpest pace in nearly seven-and-half years in December, supported by strong growth in new business and production. The seasonally-adjusted manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 55.2 in December from 55.1 in November, marking the biggest improvement in operating conditions since July 2006.
Alongside this, Japanese consumer prices added 1.5% on the year in November, in line with expectations and up from 1.1% in October. Retail sales climbed 4.0% on the year in November, coming in at JPY11.580 trillion. That beat forecasts for an increase of 2.9%, following the 2.4% gain in October.
It was not all good news, however. The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.0% in November, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - unchanged from the previous month but missing forecasts for 3.9%.
In the forex market, the dollar was hit Friday. At the close of the London equity markets, the pound trades at USD1.6490, having hit its highest level since August 2011 in earlier trading. The euro trades at USD1.3768, while the Swiss franc is at USD1.1249.
At the individual UK stock level, FTSE 250-listed International Personal Finance, closing down 16%, was the index's biggest faller. The company announced Tuesday that it has been fined GBP2.4 million by the Polish Office of Consumer Protection and Competition after it failed to correctly calculate the annual percentage rate on its products.
"While the fine itself is not material," Shore Capital said, "the proposed inclusion of the preparatory fee and home collection service charge in the APR calculation has potentially much larger implications."
Evraz was amongst the biggest FTSE 250 winners, closing up 8.3%. The group is selling iron-ore assets in Russia to LLC Ruda Khakasii for roughly USD306,000, including the Abakan and Teya iron ore mines and the Mundybash beneficiation plant. Ruda Khakasii will also purchase Evraz's subsidiary utilities companies, Abaza-Energo and Teyskie Energoseti.
Within the AIM All-Share index, CSF Group was the biggest faller, closing down 35%. The data centre provider said that it swung to a pretax loss in the first half of its financial year, as it lost two key tenants in its centres and booked write-downs for onerous leases and doubtful debts. That prompted the company's auditors to warn about its future as a going concern, but the company said it disagreed with that prognosis.
In a slightly busier data calendar Monday, UK housing price information and German retail sales data are released at 0700 GMT. In the US, pending home sales figures are scheduled for 1500 GMT, ahead of the Dallas Federal Reserve's manufacturing business index at 1530 GMT.
By James Kemp; [email protected]; @jamespkemp
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