With its oil and mining sectors buoyed by that data from Asia the FTSE rose half a percent after the bell. Yet this still saw the UK index struggle to significantly break through the 7150 mark having lost its record-breaking momentum during the second half of January.
The pound, meanwhile, didn’t have quite such a happy start, slipping 0.1% against the dollar (though it did take a decent chunk of change off the Trump-weakened greenback yesterday) but rising 0.2% against the euro. As for the UK’s own manufacturing PMI, analysts are expecting a slight dip month-on-month, from 56.1 to 55.9; it must be noted, however, that it’s a while since those estimates have been on the money.
The Eurozone indices were just as perky as their UK peer this morning. The DAX jumped 0.6% as the day got underway, with the recovering some of the ground it lost in the face of both Tuesday’s super-charged euro and Trump’s trade comments. The region-wide manufacturing PMI is set to be confirmed at 55.1 for January, a slight improvement on December’s 54.9 and the best reading since the middle of 2011.
