By Patrick Munnelly, Market Analyst, Tickmill
The FTSE 100 Index traded in the red at close of trading this afternoon. Following the Fed’s lead the European Central Bank raised rates by a further 25bps today, with ECB Chief Lagarde leaving the door open for additional rate hikes in subsequent meetings. The Bank of England will be on deck next week issuing their latest rate policy announcement next Thursday. The index closed down 14 points at 7726.70.
FTSE 100 biggest movers
As industrial metals continue to trade with a subdued tone and overnight Chinese data doing little to inspire the Chinese re-opening narrative, weaker than anticipated consumer demand data further dented sentiment. This left mining heavyweight Glencore LON:GLEN near the bottom of the index nursing losses 3.9%+ on the day.
Similarly Anglo American LON:AAL ended the day down 3.95% and Antofagasta down 3.99%. Bottom of the heap was Rolls-Royce LON:RR. down 6.65% (who we reported on in the morning’s Three Quick Facts).
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On the positive side of today’s ledger is retail stalwart Next Plc LON:NXT as the firm reported a sales loss below analyst expectations. Markets expected a 2% decline for the quarter; the actual print was 0.7% with the business maintaining profit guidance for the fiscal year ahead, however the firm was keen to stress it was still early days. Nevertheless, investors cheered the uptick in performance with a 3.62% gain, trimming back to 0.65% at close. Top performer was Smurfit Kappa [LON:SKG], ending the day up 3.71%
Wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown LON:HL. reported a decent rise in quarterly assets under management to 132 billion GBP as of the end of March 31st versus 127.1 billion GBP in the prior quarter, investors rewarded the stock with gains of 2.60% on the session.
This comes as fellow wealth manager St James’s Place LON:STJ sat for much of the session close to the bottom of the index. Shares slide over 6.3% heading into the close, but staged a recovery to end up 2.19%.
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