MARKET REPORT
THE global market rout continued yesterday, as traders stampeded away from stocks across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Most major stock exchanges around the world ended the day deep in the red, with European indices leading the way.
In the UK, the FTSE 100, dropped another 3.2%, bringing its weekly losses to almost 13%, and wiping £58bn off the exchange on Friday alone.
It closed the day down 215.79 points to 6580.61 – its lowest level in more than three-and-a-half years.
Paris index Cac and Germany’s Dax fared worse still, down 3.4% and 3.9% respectively.
In the US, the Dow Jones fell 3% as European markets closed, after falling by more than 1,000 points at one point during the week.
The news brings the FTSE 100 to its lowest level since just after the EU referendum in June 2016. It is the biggest one-week fall the FTSE has seen since the financial crisis in October 2008.
In company news, coronavirus featured heavily as said recent volatility in the markets driven by the outbreak has helped to drive strong figures for the first quarter of 2020.
Its shares rose 77.2p, or 8.9%, to 949.6p on the news, making it one of the new gainers on London’s markets.
The firm was joined in positive territory by the estate agent, which rose 1.5p to 79.9p as it revealed that pre-tax loss for last year narrowed to £8.8m from £17.2m in 2018, after it reduced its operating costs.
Rolls-Royce’s engine also revved up as the Trent-1000 maker managed to fly through the market turbulence, posting a 19.4p rise to 620p. It revealed that its loss had narrowed from £1.16bn in 2018 to £852m last year.
The turbulence continued to batter which has been suffering all week. Shares fell 9.5p to 1,100.5p – ending the week around 30% down.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Rolls-Royce, up 19.4p at 620p; up 3.3p at 189.35p; up 38p at 2,435p; up 2.12p at 141.62p; and
up 30p at 2,511p.
The biggest fallers on the index were down 55.8p at 600p; down 43.4p at 472p; down 100.5p down 122p
at 1,194p; at 1,788p; and down 21.2p at 314.2p.