Britain's top shares closed above the 6,000 level for the first time since June 2008 on Friday, as UK equities looked set for their strongest December performance since 1987.
|||Britain's top shares closed above the 6,000 level for the first time since June 2008 on Friday, as UK equities looked set for their strongest December performance since 1987.
The FTSE 100 closed up 12.85 points, or 0.2 percent at 6,008.92, albeit in wafer thin trade with the index having traded just 7 percent of its average 90-day volume.
The index closed above 6,000 for the first time since June 3, 2008, and is up 8.4 percent so far this month, the strongest December since 1987 when it rose 8.5 percent.
“The index turned around in the closing auction. Clearly the lack of volume helped with the sudden rebound,” said Jimmy Yates, head of equities at CMC Markets.
“There's is plenty of Christmas cheer and goodwill out there to see the index close above 6,000. Equities remain the preferred asset class.”
Banks , which had dragged back the FTSE in early trade, turned flat shrugging off Europe's debt concerns, while mining and energy stocks rebounded higher as investors' appetite for risk showed no sign of abating.
Miners , for example, have gained more than 13 percent in December.
But Randgold Resources fell 4.3 percent after it said fourth quarter production would be negatively hit by the impact of the political tension in Ivory Coast.
Defensive stocks, such as drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline up 1.2 percent, were also in demand as the FTSE showed broad-based gains.
Analysts warned there could be a correction in the near term.
“While clearly this index is in a long-term uptrend, short-term traders still feel it is vulnerable to a near-term correction,” said Enis Mehmet at Autochartist
He said based on a short-term range of 5,857.33 to 6,000.55, traders should watch for a possible correction into the retracement zone at 5,928.94 to 5,912.04. - Reuters
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