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FTSE 100 in sight of record high as financial stocks gain

Long Term/ Finance/ Large/ Contributor

Harshada Koli

17 Jan 2023

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<div class="FirstEle" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 8px 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "PT Serif Regular", serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 closed higher on Monday, leaving it less than a percent below the record high it hit in 2018, on optimism over the global economy and signs that inflation is coming under control.</p></div><div class="paywall" id="paywall_11673920753617" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 8px 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "PT Serif Regular", serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">The FTSE 100 ended up 0.2% at 7,860.07, not far off its all-time high of 7,903.50 points hit in May 2018, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 added 0.7%.</p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 8px 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "PT Serif Regular", serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Financial stocks were the top gainers, with Asia-focussed HSBC and Prudential up 0.8% and 2.5% respectively on hopes that China's rapid reopening from COVID lockdowns will boost the global economy.</p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 8px 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "PT Serif Regular", serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">"Investors appear to have fallen back in love with UK assets," said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown. "Confidence has rebounded as investors eye China's reopening."</p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 8px 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "PT Serif Regular", serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Investors are awaiting UK November jobs data on Tuesday and consumer prices as well as retail sales data later this week for clues on the state of the economy as well as the Bank of England's (BoE) rate-hike path.</p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 8px 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "PT Serif Regular", serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">"Inflation is moderating," said Andrea Cicione, head of strategy at TS Lombard. "It is becoming increasingly demand driven and becoming more pro-cyclical."</p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 8px 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "PT Serif Regular", serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Money markets are pricing in a 64.3% chance of a 50-basis point hike by the BoE in February to curtail inflation.</p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; backface-visibility: hidden; padding: 8px 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: "PT Serif Regular", serif; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px;">Marks & Spencer rose 2.9% after the clothing and food retailer said it planned to open 20 new, bigger stores in its 2023-24 financial year as part of an overhaul of its store estate that will see it invest 480 million pounds ($587 million).</p></div>

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Harshada Koli

Focus:	Equity
Sector Expertise:	Finance

FTSE 100 in sight of record high as financial stocks gain

Summary :

Harshada Koli

Focus:

Equity

Sector Expertise:

Finance