By Tony Cross, Monk Communications
Positive broker notes are helping push the mining sector higher, whilst Rolls Royce is also finding favour off the back of a trading statement that contained no unwanted surprises. At the other end of the board, Hikma is a notable laggard but even here losses are limited, with the stock seemingly just giving back a fraction of yesterday’s gains.
Looking ahead, UK unemployment data will be in focus, although as is increasingly the case, the market will be more interested in the latest average wage readings. This is a clear indicator of inflationary pressures and anything that looks too hot could well translate into downside pressure for equities as talk of interest rate hikes will surface once again. Aside from this we could be in for a relatively quiet session, with the FTSE-100 sitting squarely in the middle of its recent trading range.
