Markets rise as fashion retailers lead way

European markets recovered lost ground from a tough start to the week as investors looked to be piling into Monday’s dip.

In London, the rise was led by major fashion retailers Next and JD Sports, as well as mining companies and gambling firms.

It helped the FTSE 100 index of London’s main firms rise by 46.12 points, or 0.6%.

It came as figures on retail sales showed a 2.1% rise in December compared to the same month a year ago, also up 4.6% compared to 2019.

“However, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) have warned that consumer spending could take a hit thanks to rising inflation and surging energy bills,” said Spreadex expert Oliver Males.

He added: “The World Bank stated today that they expect the global economy to only grow 4.1% this year, down from 5.5% last year, due to the Omicron variant.

“But despite this, many UK economists only expect December and January being flat, as the worst-case scenario, due to how well the UK seems to be handling the virus compared to most other countries, especially across Europe.”

In New York, the Dow Jones had risen 0.1% slightly after UK markets closed, while the S&P 500 was up by 0.5%.

In France, the Cac 40 closed up 1%, while Frankfurt’s Dax remained fairly flat.

On currency markets, the pound dropped 0.1% against the euro and would buy 1.1991 euros by the end of the day. Against the dollar it rose 0.1% to 1.3619.

In company news, Darktrace reached close to the top of the smaller FTSE 250 index after it revealed a higher earnings and sales outlook for the financial year.