On this day
1133: Henry II, the first Plantagenet King (1154-89), was born in Le Mans.
1790: Death of Flora Macdonald, Scottish Jacobite heroine who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to safety after his defeat at Culloden.
1850: The Menai tubular bridge, joining Wales and Anglesey, constructed by Robert Stephenson, was opened.
1879: William Henry Beveridge, who produced the report which laid the foundations of the British welfare state, was born in Rangpur, Bengal.
1918: Moscow was declared the new capital of Russia in place of Petrograd. 1933: The Nazi Party won almost half the seats in the German election.
1936: The Spitfire fighter plane made its maiden flight.
1946: Winston Churchill introduced the phrase “Iron Curtain”. He said in a speech: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended
across the continent.”
1953: Joseph Stalin, Russian Communist leader, died in mysterious circumstances - officially from a brain haemorrhage. On the same day, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev died.
1976: The pound fell below two US dollars for the first time.
1984: Scientists warned of a “greenhouse effect” amid growing concern that carbon dioxide, produced by fossil fuels, would damage the environment.
1993: Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was banned for life after failing a drug test.
LONDON’S markets drifted lower as weak sentiment in Asia that hit early trading outweighed a rebound in US stocks which helped most of Europe perk up in the afternoon session.
It came after a strong start to the week which had seen the FTSE buoyed by the extension of furlough and other financial support measures from the Chancellor’s Budget.
The FTSE 100 closed 24.59 points, or 0.37%, lower at 6,650.88 on Thursday.
David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “The Asian session saw painful losses thanks to the declines witnessed last night in the US and that has seeped into the sentiment in this part of the world, although the declines are moderate.
“Today’s bearish moves in European markets breaks their three-day winning streak.
“In London, banks have handed back some of the impressive gains they racked up yesterday on account of the optimism injected into the market by the Budget.”
Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both opened slightly lower amid caution around bond yields before making gains as sentiment steadied.
In Europe, the major markets lifted slightly off intra-day lows as trading activity calmed in the US. The German Dax decreased by 0.19% and the French Cac moved 0.01% higher.
Meanwhile, sterling hit its highest figure against the dollar for a week as it carried over some the bounce it saw after Rishi Sunak’s Budget on Wednesday. The pound increased by 0.33% versus the US dollar to 1.399 and was up 0.5% against the euro at 1.162.
In company news, Aggreko was the top performer on the FTSE 250 after it was reported that the portable power generator has been approached by another suitor regarding a potential takeover. Bloomberg reported that Platinum Equity had approached the business over a deal as it continues takeover talks with a rival buyout consortium. Investors cheered the news and shares jumped 66p higher to 889p.
Revolution Bars also saw its shares surge in value after the hospitality business said it plans to reopen 20 of its bars on April 12.
It closed 3.9p higher at 32.2p after it said it expects a “rapid rebound” in trading after it opens the doors to its venues, predicting “significant pent-up demand” from potential customers.
Elsewhere, spirits giant Diageo made gains after the US agreed to suspend millions of pounds’ worth of tariffs on UK exports, including cutting the 25% rate on Scotch whisky to zero for four months. The Johnnie Walker and Talisker owner welcomed the announcement and saw shares rise 56.5p to 2,933.5p.
The price of oil soared higher after Opec and its allies decided not to cut output next month. The price of Brent crude oil increased by 4.6% to 67.02 dollars per barrel.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 were Melrose, up 6.55p at 183.5p, Sage Group, up 17.6p at 597p, Reckitt Benckiser, up 182p at 6,282p, and BP, up 8.2p at 313.1p.
The biggest fallers of the day were Rio Tinto, down 557p at 5,878p, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, down 74p at 1,088p, Antofagasta, down 116p at 1,726.5p, and BHP, down 137.5p at 2,216.5p.