After breaching 8,000 yesterday, the index smashed through the milestone level on Thursday trade as high as 8,047, before easing back.
The FTSE 100 was trading at 7,985 at the time of writing with the historic 8,000 failing to hold as support.
“For an index that’s been unloved for years, it’s refreshing to see the FTSE find its rhythm as this could help it win back some of the investors who turned their backs in 2016 when the Brexit vote was cast,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
The index was supported by favourable earnings updates from Centrica, Standard Chartered and RELX, as well as continued interest in Vodafone.
“Helping to drive the index on Thursday was Relx, up 3.2% after its full-year results were well received. Despite being one of the UK market’s biggest companies, Relx tends to stay out of the spotlight and is often underappreciated by investors. In a nutshell it provides information to people working in industries such as legal and insurance to help them do their job in a better way,” Mould said.
Vodafone shares were 3.4% to the good after Liberty Global acquired a 5% stake in the FTSE 100 telecoms company earlier this week.
Heavyweight selling
Despite a raft of positive corporate news on Thursday, investors sold market cap heavyweights including AstraZeneca, Unilever and Shell which ultimately resulted in the FTSE 100 slipping below 8,000.
Imperial Brands and Berkeley Group were the top fallers.
Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered investors will be pleased their board issued a more upbeat outlook than Barclays did yesterday as shares in the emerging markets bank gained 2.5% on Thursday.
Standard Chartered upgraded their expectations for the year ahead after profit before tax rose 15% in 2022. The group earns most of their profit before tax in Asia and is well placed for a recovery in the Chinese economy.
Centrica
Centrica was the FTSE 100’s top gainer after the British Gas owner’s adjusted EBITDA more than tripled to £3.5bn on the back of higher gas prices. Free cash flow increased to £2.5bn as the company announced a £250m share buyback.
Centrica shares were 5% higher to 103p at the time of writing on Thursday.