BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The dovish tone in Bank of England's recent monetary policy announcements continued to help the FTSE 100 benchmark of the London Stock Exchange extend gains. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) survey's total order book balance touching a six-month high also boosted sentiment.
FTSE 100 oscillated between 7,961.43 and 7,882.19 as compared with the previous day's closing level of 7,882.55.
The benchmark index of the London Stock Exchange is currently trading at 7,920.98, having added 0.49 percent on an overnight basis.
In the 100-scrip index, only 33 are trading in the overnight negative zone.
Phoenix Group Holdings jumped 10.2 percent. Reckitt Benckiser Group, Natwest Group and Vodafone Group, all rallied more than 2 percent. Lloyds Banking Group, WPP, Airtel Africa, BT Group, Pershing Square Holdings have all added more than 1 percent.
JD Sports Fashion slipped more than 6 percent. DCC, Rentokil Initial, International Consolidated Airlines Group, Halma, Convatec Group, Frasers Group, all slipped more than 1 percent.
The GBP/USD pair decreased 0.38 percent overnight to 1.2608 while the Dollar Index jumped 0.93 percent to 104.37. The sterling ranged between $1.2575 and $1.2675 in the day's trade. The sterling's weakness came amidst a flat retail sales reading for February that contrasted with a 3.6 percent increase in January and market expectations of a 0.3 percent decline.
Bond yields in the U.K. eased in response to the dovish hints on rate cuts by BoE officials. Ten-year bond yields dropped 0.93 percent to 3.9610 percent. The yields ranged between 3.745 percent and 4.3075 percent over the course of the day. The same was at 3.998 percent a day earlier.
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