For the FTSE 100, it’s been a whirlwind day. It opened in the red, dragged by oil and mining stocks, with BP and Shell weighing especially heavily on the index. It steadily rose as the session unfolded though, surging most sharply in the afternoon as consumer staples and healthcare stocks — like heavyweights AstraZeneca and Unilever — benefitted from a flight from global flight from risk. It’s outperformed European counterparts to close at another fresh record.
It was a relatively eventful day for gilts too. After an initially muted response to the inflation data, UK bonds rallied, despite traders having pared their bets on rate cuts from the Bank of England this year. Yields were down across the curve, falling by as much as seven basis points towards the longer end. That makes more sense, though, given traders were adding to rate-cut bets for next year.
As for the pound, it strengthened ever so slightly after the morning’s data, though steadily erased gains over the course of the day. It’s now trading below $1.35, extending its losing streak into its third day.
We also had housing data from the ONS. UK house prices rose 3.7% in the year to June, while rent inflation eased, with prices falling for the first time in London since 2021.