FTSE 100 traders catch breath, but oil prices still raising temperatures on steady day for markets
It was easy-going on the stock markets today as investors caught a rare breather after a 2016 which has already had more than its fair share of twists and turns.
The FTSE 100 closed the day up a modest 0.27 per cent at 6,164, though it was a day of up-and-down as an unconvincing mid-morning assault on last week's summit saw the index reach a high of 6,202 before petering out. A sobering lunchtime clearly turned hungry buyers into satisfied sellers, pushing the FTSE back down ahead of closing time.
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The biggest mover was Mediclinic, still in its first month in the big league, up 3.4 per cent to 928.5p, while travel firm Tui, down 2.78 per cent to 1,051p, was the worst-faring on a day which saw a fairly even split between the numbers of climbers and sliders.
Employment data out this morning showing a slight fall in the number of jobseekers in the Eurozone was not enough to excite the European trading houses either, the French CAC was up 0.38 per cent to 4,338, and Germany’s Dax put on a slender 0.1 per cent to 9,804.
Nobody has quite had their fill of commodities headlines just yet, however, as the biggest story of the day was the prospect of a deal between Russia and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to freeze production losing steam. Brent crude ticked down by just shy of one per cent to $38.31 (£26.82) a barrel on the news.