Effervescent pound fails to flatten FTSE

European markets remained unmoved by yesterday’s events, as a strong pound did not do enough to put a serious dent in the FTSE 100. London’s top market ended the day down just 5.84 points to 6,026.25, a 0.1 per cent fall.

British Air ways owner IAG led the pack lower as its shares lost more than 30 per cent of their value because of a rights issue. It was a technical drop after the airline launched a £2.5 billion issue of shares last week.

It was joined towards the bottom by natural resource giants including Polymetal, Fresnillo, BP, Shell and Antofagasta, which often take a hit when the pound soars.

News of a possible revolt against B oris Johnson’s plans to break international law helped sterling reverse some of the losses it racked up last week. The currency jumped by two thirds of a per cent to $1.2878 against the dollar, and by a third to €1.0842 when buying a euro.

Connor Campbell, an analyst at Spreadex, said: “Reports of Tory opposition to the law-breaking UK Internal Market Bill and BNP Paribas’ claim that a no - deal Brexit isn’t ‘inevitable’ gave the currency a reason to move higher.”

Michael Hewson at CMC Markets said an early rise tapered off during the afternoon even as big-ticket mergers, such as those of Arm as well as Tiktok, excited traders.

He said: “The rising tide of coronavirus cases across the UK and Europe and the resultant tightening of restrictions, along with the announcement by the CEO of the world’s largest vaccine maker, the Serum Institute of India, that it could take until 2024 before everyone is inoculated, has helped to temper some of this morning’s early enthusiasm.”

In the US, things were more positive as the S&P 500 added 1.7 per cent and the Dow Jones rose 1.3 per cent.

Yesterday’s biggest listed company news in the UK came from G4S, which rejected an unsolicited £2.96bn potential bid from Canada’s Gardaworld.

Shares ended the day up by a quarter at 182.45p, below the 190p offer price.

Shares in Vodafone Group closed down by half a per cent on the news that it plans to sell its stake in Vodafone Egypt for $2.4bn (£1.9bn). A potential buyer is far through its due diligence process, Vodafone said.