Pound soars but markets sluggish after inauguration

INAUGURATION hangovers started to kick in yesterday as the strong gains following the swearing in of new US president Joe Biden petered out.

The FTSE 100 closed the day down 24.97 points, or 0.37%, at 6,715.42.

Sore heads were also not helped by a lacklustre update from the European Central Bank, where interest rates and further stimulus was left unchanged. The German Dax 30 closed up 0.05% and the French Cac 40 closed down 0.67%.

There was better news in the currency markets, as hopes for the UK vaccine rollout helped the pound hit 32-month and eight-month highs against the dollar and euro respectively.

The pound was up 0.43% against the dollar at 1.371 and up 0.14% against the euro at 1.295 as markets closed.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Sage up 28.2p at 601.2p; Just Eat Takeaway up 390p at 8,400p; Ocado up 103p at 2,675p; Aveva up 113p at 3,893p and Auto Trader up 16.6p at 583.6p.

The biggest fallers were Rolls-Royce down 4.1p at 103.3p; BP down 9.5p at 293.35p; IAG down 4.9p at 156.95p; Royal Dutch Shell B shares down 41.2p at 1,376.8p and Royal Dutch Shell A shares down 40.2p at 1,436.8p.