UK shares recover from shock of poor US data
Britain’s top share index, bruised by concerns over the global economy in the previous two sessions, rebounded from lows following poor US jobs numbers yesterday to close marginally higher.
US non-farm payrolls increased by 54,000 in May, the weakest reading since September, while the jobless rate rose to 9.1 per cent. Economists had expected payrolls to rise 150,000.
“The (non-farm payrolls) are really disappointing and point to a number of issues going forward and the prospect of a double-dip, but I think in the UK it’s a case of ‘we priced in a lot of it from falls yesterday and Wednesday’,” Will Hedden, sales trader at IG Index, said.
The FTSE 100 ended up 7.09 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,855.01, having dived to a session low of 5,802.67 just after the jobs report. Volumes were thin, with traders citing investor caution on account of the data.
The index fell heavily on Wednesday and Thursday, shedding around 140 points over the course of the two days, pressured by gloomy US data which heightened concerns about the global economy.
The FTSE 100’s ability to hold above the 5,800 level — its 200-day moving average — was seen by traders as a bullish sign.
“If we can keep finding support at 5,800, then that should prop the market in the short term really. We see that as quite a critical level,” Ed Woolfitt, head of trading at Galvan Research, said.
IG Index’s Hedden cautioned that if the index were to drop below 5,800, “we could be moving considerably down, maybe another 100 or 200 points”.
U.S. blue chips were off 0.8 per cent by London’s close.
The raft of weak US data was reflected in the big fallers on the UK blue-chip index on yesterday, with mining stocks and integrated oils dented by demand worries.
On the upside, British software group Autonomy rose 4 per cent, topping the FTSE 100 leader board, as it completed the acquisition of digital assets from Iron Mountain, a deal announced mid-May.
Johnson Matthey firmed 1.9 percent, as both Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan raised their target prices for the supplier of catalytic converters after its full-year results on Thursday.
Upbeat broker sentiment also helped insurance buy-out specialist Resolution, up 1.6 percent, with Investec Securities repeating its buy rating on the company ahead of an investor update scheduled for June 7.