adminpolicy and blue-chip earnings, although volumes were expected to remain low heading into a four-day holiday weekend.
Miners reversed several days of falls and were among the early gainers, boosted by metals price rises on the back of a weaker dollar after dovish comments overnight from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
Antofagasta and Kazakhmys, up over 1,3 percent, were among the early gainers on the last trading day of the month in a 0,1 percent higher FTSE 100, after the index closed flat on Wednesday.
“With the prospect of ultra-easy monetary policy continuing for
the foreseeable future in the world’s largest economy, traders are feeling more confident about holding the
bullish view and risk appetite is expected to be high,” said Jonathan Sudaria, night dealer at London Capital Group.
Trade was extremley low, however, as Britain geared up for a second four-day holiday weekend in a row, starting this time with the Royal Wedding
today.
Volumes after the first hour of trade were at just 7 percent of the 30-day daily average.
Corporate earnings from heavyweights such as Royal Dutch Shell helped give direction, with the oil major rising 1 percent on the back of forecast-beating results, thanks to oil prices and refining margin gains.
Global advertising group WPP was also among the gainers, up 2 percent after it raised its outlook for the year, while insurer Standard Life led the market thanks to forecast-beating sales. – Reuters.
Positivity surrounding the Fed’s comments had pushed US indexes to fresh multi-year highs overnight, while Japanese stocks closed at a two-week high.
Corporate strength in both regions supported equity bulls, while market direction later in Thursday’s session was seen being guided by the latest US GDP and jobless figures.
Not all corporate updates were positive, while the overnight release of fresh consumer morale data underlined the fragile outlook facing British-focused firms.
The GfK NOP consumer confidence index fell to -31 in April from -28 in March, its lowest since February 2009 and against expectations for a steady reading.
Against that backdrop, hotel operator Whitbread fell 5,5 percent in heavy volume to lead the FTSE fallers, weighed by downbeat comment on the outlook from its chief executive after forecast-beating results.
Heavyweight losers also included Unilever, down 2,5 percent after posting peer-lagging growth in a trading update, and AstraZeneca, down 2,2 percent on forecast-lagging sales.
From a technical perspective, the FTSE should test the year’s high around 6105.77 in the short term, said James A. Hyerczyk, analyst at Autochartist.
“Whether traders continue to buy through this level is the key question. Traders appear to be gaining confidence in the move as they continue to buy strength rather than wait for pull-backs.
“This could backfire as the market is coming close to being overbought. Investors should be careful about chasing the market at current levels.
“Watch for a possible closing price reversal top to signal the start of a near-term correction,” he said.-Reuters
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