Shares rise across Europe as traders return from long weekend
The FTSE 100 closed up by 44 points to end at 7,786.
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Your support makes all the difference.Shares in London rose on Tuesday as traders returned from the long weekend in a buoyant mood which helped to send France’s main stock index to a new high.
Concerns from the IMF that the global economy is facing an “uncertain” outlook also did not appear to take the wind out of the sails in European trading capitals.
In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.6%, a 44.16-point rise, which left it at 7,785.72 by the end of the day.
“European stock indices continued to rise on Tuesday despite the IMF expecting global growth to slow from 3.4% in 2022 to a downwardly revised 2.8% this year,” said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG.
The Cac 40 in Paris rose by 1%, hitting an all-time high during the day, while Germany’s Dax index was also in the green, up 0.4%.
The performance in the US was less strong, the S&P 500 rose by 0.1% while its Wall Street neighbour the Dow Jones rose 0.3%.
The indices are waiting for minutes from a meeting of the Federal Reserve and the US March inflation report, which are set to be released on Wednesday.
Mr Rudolph continued: “Last week’s appreciation in the US dollar, boosted by Friday’s strong US employment data as investors factor in a near 70% probability of another 25 basis-point Fed rate hike, has given way to some profit taking and depreciation in the greenback ahead of Wednesday’s inflation data.
“The price of gold and silver benefitted with the latter trading close to last week’s near one-year highs while the oil price is also seen to head higher.”
On currency markets, the pound rose 0.2% against the dollar to just over 1.24, while it dipped slightly to 1.138 euros.
In company news, ten-pin bowling operator Hollywood Bowl said that it had made a record £111 million in revenues in the six months to the end of March.
The business said that its two new sites in Peterborough and Speke had helped drive up sales, as had a new food menu with more sharing plates.
Shares initially rose on Tuesday morning, but ended up closing down by 0.4%.
Elsewhere Cineworld filed a restructuring plan in US bankruptcy court on Tuesday, setting out a plan that will wipe out shareholders.
The business hopes to fix its five billion dollar (£4 billion) pile of debt before it exits bankruptcy proceedings in the country.
But shareholders will be left without “any recovery”, the business said. Shares dipped by more than 35%.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Rio Tinto, up 260p to 5,555p, Antofagasta, up 71.5p to 1,551.5p, Anglo American, up 108.5p to 2,709p, Glencore, up 14.9p to 472.25p, and Flutter Entertainment, up 470p to 15,210p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Beazley, down 9.5p to 593p, Unite Group, down 15.0p to 964p, London Stock Exchange, down 94.0p to 7,928p, Haleon, down 3.9p to 346.7p, and GSK, down 16.6p to 1,506.4p.