FTSE’s late rally despite market fears over Trump
AFTER trading in the doldrums all day after the news that US President Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid- 19, the FTSE 100 rallied in the afternoon as markets opened across the pond.
The UK’s top index ended the day up 22.67 points to 5902.12, a rise of 0.4 per cent.
The index had been stuck at around 5,830 before US markets opened.
Despite the S& P 500 reacting badly to the news of Mr Trump’s illness, down 1 per cent by closing time in Europe, the FTSE took heart when New York woke up.
The Dow Jones was also down, by around 0.7 per cent at just before 5pm UK time.
“The news that President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, have tested positive for Covid- 19 captured traders’ attention,’’ said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.
Early on Friday morning the president announced that he had tested positive for the Covid- 19 virus, after taking a test because aide Hope Hicks had fallen ill with the disease.
“We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately,’’ he said, speaking of himself and the first lady.
According to White House officials Mr Trump is only showing mild symptoms, and senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he had a “great’’ conversation with the president after his test.
Frankfurt’s Dax closed down by 0.3 per cent and the Cac in Paris ended the day flat.
In London, shares in RollsRoyce pushed lower, hitting their lowest point since May 2003 as markets closed, a day after announcing plans for a £ 3 billion fundraise.
The UK’s company news was dominated by Walmart’s plans to sell Asda to petrol station billionaires Mohsin and Zuber Issa.
The £ 6.8 billion deal did not affect shares in London, as Asda is not publicly traded, but Walmart’s shares dropped by 1.9 per cent in New York.
Asda’s online rival Ocado had a bad day as shares ended down 2.2 per cent a day after Norway’s
AutoStore opened two court cases in the UK and the US, c l a i m i n g t h a t O c a d o h a s breached its patents.
Tui said it was considering plans to raise cash again after the travel business took a battering from the pandemic. Shares dropped by 2 per cent. Tesco has said it will introduce a traffic light system to the entrances of some of its larger stores to manage customer n u m b e r s a m i d d i s t a n c i n g restrictions.
Larger Tesco stores currently have colleagues at entrances to help customers follow safety measures.
Some other supermarket chains, such as Aldi, introduced traffic light systems earlier in the pandemic. In a letter from UK chief Jason Tarry to customers, Tesco also said it now sells packs of face coverings in its stores which can be worn immediately and then paid for with shopping later.
The cost of a barrel of Brent crude oil dropped by 3.2 per cent to 39.63 US dollars per barrel.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Standard Life Aberdeen, up 6.9p to 240.1p, Evraz, up 9.5p to 350p, SSE, up 32.5p to 1,286.5p, British Land, up 8.8p to 349.2p, and Rightmove, up 16.2p to 655p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Melrose Industries, down 3.55p to 116.65p, RollsRoyce, down 3.2p to 113.6p, Avast, down 13.5p to 516.5p, IAG, down 2.34p to 91.48p, and B& M, down 11p to 492.4p.