The London FTSE 100 stock index fell in the open trading hours on Tuesday the 25th of February after hitting a 14-year high at close on Monday 24th.
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The blue-chip index of England’s premier shares was pushed down 29 points by mining stocks – resting at 6836, a drop of 0.4%.
City traders had previously predicted a record-shattering high to register – above the 7,000 point mark.
Pushing to a peak
London’s index had closed at 6,865.86 – up 27.8 points or 0.4% – on the 24th of February.
This took the blue-chips to the second highest close on record; of 6,930.2 on the 30th of December 1999 during the dotcom bubble boom.
Even with the recent fall in the results, the recent growth leaves the FTSE positioned to push past the previous records and indeed past the 7,000 mark.
Vodafone
Vodafone and Bunzl – a business supplies distributor – led the equity index rise on Monday.
Bunzl’s shares increased 6.9% fuelled by better than expected results, leading blue chip companies to higher gains across the index.
In addition, in the wake of the USD 130 billion exit deal from its joint US venture, Vodafone stock jumped 4.1%. The telecoms giant’s shareholders then begin to reinvest stocks from the windfall, pushing the FTSE 100 yet higher.
This activity greatly mitigated HSBC’s 2.8% fall after the bank posted lower-than-expected profits, and cautioned on the volatility of emerging markets such as Ukraine and Argentina.
S&P 500
If the London index pushed past the 7,000 mark, it would mirror the good news found on the other side of the Atlantic.
In America, the S&P 500 trading at a fresh all-time high on the 24th of February; after setting new record highs in 2013.
Compounding the gains is the recent record high close on the 30-company Dow Jones Industrial in late 2013.
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