Draghi helps lift FTSE with rate outlook

Events and comments from around the world helped the FTSE 100 rise to a new eight-week high. The blue-chip index in London closed up 85.73 points – or 1.17 per cent – to 7,443.04.

In Europe, for example, European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi hinted that low interest rates would continue and there would be a boost to the lender’s asset purchase programme – buoying markets across the world.

Connor Campbell at Spreadex said Draghi’s comments “immediately turned a potentially fretful session into one full of triple-digit growth”, adding: “It also infuriated Donald Trump thanks to its euro-weakening impact, the president whining that it makes it ‘easier for [the Eurozone nations] to compete against the USA’.”

In Chile, a strike by copper miners helped send the price of the material soaring. This helped shares in the FTSE 100’s biggest miners, with Anglo American closing up 2.7 per cent at 2,165p and BHP Group by 2.5 per cent at 1,965.2p, for example.

In currencies, the pound continued its miserable run against the dollar, up just 0.09 per cent at $1.2545. Against the euro, the pound was up 0.28 per cent, worth €1.1203.

Supermarket Tesco was showing off its new technology and explaining to analysts how it plans to make more money in the future, including using delivery robots in a store. Shares jumped 3.74 per cent at 235.5p.

However, Premier Inn owner Whitbread closed out at 4,599p, a 1.5 per cent drop, as investors prepare themselves for the company’s update to the stock market today.