By Patrick Munnelly, Market Analyst, Tickmill
The FTSE 100 winning streak extended to eight back to back sessions of green closes today, finishing the day up 29 points at 7,909.44.
Once again, the industrial miners are leading the charge with Anglo American LON:AAL +3.26%, Fresinilo LON:FRES +3.2% and Antofagasta LON:ANTO +1.8% providing most of the heavy lifting for the sector and index as a whole.
FTSE-100 biggest movers
Entain LON:ENT, the owner of Ladbrokes sat at the top of the leaderboard for the session as investors cheered better than expected quarterly net gaming revenues, aided by acquisition and strong demand in its retail outlets. This fueled a 7.24%+ rise in the shares. Astrazeneca LON:AZN was the standout in the pharma sector after receiving a shot in the arm from lab studies suggesting that its new Covid antibody will protect against all known variants of the disease, Astra shares were higher by 1.8%+ on the news at the close.
Centrica LON:CNA sat near the bottom of the index today, with the British Gas owner shedding 1.2% on the session as plans to further regulate forced prepayment installations came short of a much expected ban. New rules will mean that companies are forced to comply with stricter code of conduct requirements, meaning additional welfare visits and the implementation of body cameras for engineers to protect consumer safety rights.
UK Employment Data
On the fundamental front, Employment data out of the UK this morning has done little to alleviate pressure on the Bank of England. Employment growth expanded by 169k for the three month period to February and pay growth jumped to 6.6% as the prior number was also revised higher. This suggests further inflationary pressures for Bank officials to battle.
