Opening gains likely as winning streak continues
ANOTHER positive open is expected for UK shares this morning, following on from a fifth straight week of gains.
GFT is quoting the FTSE 100 index to open up 10 points from Friday’s close, at a level of 5,608. The German DAX 40 is expected to open up 12 points at 6,310, and the French CAC 40 index is forecast to open up 8 points at 3,790.
With markets in the US on a similar track of gains – the S&P 500 index on track for its best month in a decade, and the Dow Jones posting a near 200-point gain to end the week, the bullish momentum shows little sign of ending. As markets continuously shrug off more and more bad news – everything from the prospect of the US Federal Reserve moving closer to a second round of monetary easing to alarmist talk on the Irish economy – the more genuine the rally becomes. A plethora of high-profile fundamental economic data are released this week to really test the markets’ nerves, particularly from the US from where we will see the latest updates on housing, confidence and manufacturing activity, and the spotlight event is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the core personal consumption expenditure price index, due out Friday.
Martin Slaney, Director, Global Dealing Operations, GFT