UK stock markets – reeling only six weeks ago after the UK’s vote to leave the EU – continued their recovery in dramatic style on Friday by closing at new 2016 highs.
The FTSE 100 closed the week’s trading with a rise of 0.8% in the final session – investors cheered by further evidence that the world’s largest economy, the United States, was still perky despite global weaknesses.
News of 255,000 net new jobs being created stateside last month was a far better performance than had been expected.
It helped bolster sentiment to further build on stock market gains of the previous day, which were a reaction to the Bank of England’s stimulus programme for the UK economy.
The FTSE will begin Monday’s session at 6793 – a 12-month high for London’s blue chip index. It would have easily crossed the 6800 threshold but for investors dumping RBS stock in the wake of its latest results.
The FTSE 250 – a much better bellwether of the UK economy because its constituent companies are more focused on Britain – gained 1.3% on Friday to close at its highest level for the year to date.