The U.K.’s main stock market index was trading atop 7,100 on Friday, as record copper prices drove gains for several mining companies, while Barclays shares rose, after an activist sold his entire stake.
The FTSE 100 index
UKX,
+0.75%
rose 0.9% to 7,136.46, briefly paring gains after U.S. jobs data fell fall short of expectations. The index rose even as the pound
GBPUSD,
+0.64%
gained 0.3% against the dollar, at $1.3944.
The U.S. added 266,000 jobs in April, against expectations for one million more.
Investors have been banking on a strong global recovery. While the U.S. data disappointed, China numbers revealed exports and imports grew faster than expected in April. Optimism over the global economy coming back from the COVID-19 pandemic has driven gains for commodities this year.
Copper hit a fresh high on Friday, with July futures up 2.4% to $4.71 a pound
HGN21,
+2.51%,
and a gain of 33% this year. Among miners, shares of Rio Tinto
RIO,
+0.97%
RIO,
+1.34%
rose 1.2%, Glencore
GLEN,
+3.17%
and Anglo American
AAL,
+3.72%
climbed 3% and BHP
BHP,
+0.80%
BHP,
+1.15%
rose 1%.
Shares of Barclays
BCS,
+2.16%
BARC,
+2.64%
were also on the rise, up 2% after activist investor Sherborne Investors, led by Edward Bramson, said it was selling its entire 6% stake in the bank. The investor had been waging a three-year battle with Barclays’ chief executive, Jes Staley, to shrink its investment bank.
“Staley was mainly right, Bramson was mainly wrong. There were always doubts about the whole ‘shrink to grow’ concept that has underpinned the strategy of the likes of Deutsche Bank. Barclays rightly pursued a different course and maintained a more diversified revenue stream,” said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, in a note to clients.
Shares of InterContinental Hotels
IHG,
+1.71%
IHG,
+1.43%
rose 1%, after the hotels group said increasing demand as COVID-19 restrictions ease lifted business in the first quarter, although results were still down when compared with 2020 and 2019. The company said it saw a pickup in business continuing.
International Consolidated Airlines
IAG,
+2.13%
reported that its operating loss for the first quarter narrowed. The operator of British Airways, Iberia and others said the pandemic continues to strain passenger capacity. IAG expects second-quarter capacity of around 25% of 2019’s capacity, and that figure remains uncertain. Shares slipped 0.3%.
“British Airways owner IAG is still in emergency mode, battening down the hatches as global travel remains in limbo pushing bookings to a fraction of usual levels.” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
