As it did on Tuesday, the FTSE 100 led the way after the bell, adding another 0.8%. Touching 6,875, the index is at a near 3-month high. If it can add another 40 or so points in the coming days, it will hit its best levels in over 13 months.
“Despite the third wave in Europe, concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine, and reported worries about an incoming slowdown in the UK’s vaccination programme, yesterday’s IMF growth upgrades have helped keep the markets feeling fresh,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.
While its gains were half of that of its blue-chip big brother, the FTSE 250’s 0.4% rise put it above 22,000 for the first time in history.
“That, more so than the gains made by the multinational-focused FTSE 100, is a sign of investor optimism over a post-covid recovery in the UK,” Campbell added.
FTSE 100 Top Movers
Land Securities (3.47%), British Land (2.49%) and Taylor Wimpey headed up the FTSE 100 early on Tuesday.
Avast (-1.76%), Flutter Entertainment (-1.56%) and Evraz (-1.00%) are the day’s biggest fallers so far.
Shell
Royal Dutch Shell today confirmed that the impact of the Texas winter storm will see the company lose out on $200m in the first quarter of 2021. This is despite the crude oil price rising over the same period.
The FTSE 100 company’s production of oil was reduced by between 10,000 to 20,000 barrels per day, however the company is still anticipating average output to come in between 2,400,000 and 2,475,000 barrels per day. This would result in a swing to a profit following a prior Q4 loss.
