Friday 23 July 2021 3:42 pm | Updated: Friday 23 July 2021 3:44 pm

Tech stocks lead gains on Wall Street

Wall Street edged back from record highs this evening after a surprise increase in jobless claims dimmed hopes of a swift economic recovery. — Data from the US Labor Department released today showed US inflation hit 5.4 per cent annually in July, the same rate recorded in June

US stocks opened up on Friday morning driven by a rally among megacap technology shares.

The blue-chip S&P 500 rose 0.54 per cent during the opening session.

The Dow Jones increased 0.41 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.4 per cent.

Investors piled into tech stocks after a string of strong earnings were published. Facebook led the gains, rising three per cent.

Yields on ten-year Treasuries crept up to 1.28 per cent.

FTSE 100 recovers from selloff

London’s FTSE 100 rose on Friday afternoon to help pare back sharp losses registered at the beginning of the week.

The capital’s premier index added 0.58 per cent to reach 7,008 in afternoon trading.

Investors were boosted by data released by the Office for National Statistics showing retail sales in the UK rose 0.5 per cent over the last month and are now 9.5 per cent above pre-Covid levels in February 2020, fulled by Euro 2020.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The Euros kicked off a spell of celebratory spending as national teams progressed through the tournament, fans splashed the cash on food and alcohol.”

The domestically-focused FTSE 250 added 0.76 per cent, while AIM shares rose 0.24 per cent.

The pound lost ground on the greenback, dropping 0.12 per cent to buy $1.37.

Winners and losers

The day’s best performer was bank NatWest, climbing 3.09 per cent, as investors piled back into the stock after reducing their positions yesterday after news broke that the UK government will selloff more of its stake in the company over the next year.

Vodafone came second, rising 2.52 per cent after it posted strong results showing revenue swelled over the last quarter.

Takeaway deliver firm Just Eat Takeaway.com cam third, up 2.39 per cent.

Miners registered heavy losses on Friday. Fresnillo was the worst performer, dropping 1.69 per cent.

Polymetal International fell 1.17 per cent, while British Airways parent company IAG was down 1.06 per cent.

Around the world

Asian shares posted a mixed set of results overnight.

Japan’s Nikkei added 0.58 per cent, while China’s CSI 300 fell sharply by 1.21 per cent.

European shares fared better – the Stoxx 600 was up 0.55 per cent during the open.