FTSE treads water in last pre-Christmas session
The index rose by a little under three points in a short trading session.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Shares in the City trod water on the last day of trading before Christmas, as the index closed just below the 7,700 mark.
The day went poorly for some of the FTSE 100’s retailers, despite official data in the morning showing that last month’s retail sales were better than expected.
The Office for National Statistics said that volumes rose 1.3% in November, 0.9 percentage points ahead of what economists had forecast.
JD Sports and Ocado were the two worst performers on the index, down 5.15% and 4.25% respectively, in a short day of trading in London.
The FTSE 100 rose 2.78 points, or 0.04% to end the day at 7697.51.
It’s been a year of mixed fortunes for the UK’s stock market, and while it has avoided heading through the lows of the year, its 1.9% gain since the beginning of 2023 is left far behind by its global peers
“The UK index has succeeded in closing out the day with a small gain, though it failed to finish above 7,700 for Christmas,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.
“It’s been a year of mixed fortunes for the UK’s stock market, and while it has avoided heading through the lows of the year, its 1.9% gain since the beginning of 2023 is left far behind by its global peers.”
“UK investors will hope that, with rate cuts now much more likely in 2024 thanks to this week’s inflation and GDP revisions, the index can put a better foot forward in the year to come.”
At the end of the day in Europe Frankfurt’s Dax index rose 0.28%, while the Cac 40 in Paris had closed up 0.19%.
In New York a little while after markets had closed in Europe the S&P 500 had gained 0.50%, while the Dow Jones was 0.30% higher
On currency markets the pound had gained 0.37% against the dollar at 1.2736 and had risen 0.11% against the euro at 1.1538.
In a quiet day for company news in London, Unilever said that it would buy K18, a haircare brand. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
It follows a series of disposals from the giant consumer products company. Earlier in the week it said that 20 brands would be sold to a private equity firm. Shares closed up 0.2%.
Elsewhere online banking company Revolut said its £40 million profit in 2021, the first profit in its history, had turned into a £25 million loss in 2022.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Lloyds Bank, up 0.85p to 48.05p, Pershing Square, up 60p to 3,529p, Airtel Africa, up 1.8p to 192.05p, Unite Group, up 14p to 1,052.5p, Rightmove, up 5.4p to 569.9p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were JD Sports, down 8.95p to 165.03p, Ocado, down 32.2p to 724.1p, Entain, down 25p to 980.2p, Rentokil, down 6.7p to 434.5p, and DCC, down 84p to 5,701p.