FTSE 100 ends the week on a high as AstraZeneca leaps on covid vaccine hopes

The FTSE-100 Index ended the week with a flourish as investors juggled a mixed picture on the global economy with hopes of good news on a vaccine for coronavirus.

Up 39.61 at 6290.3, the premier index closed the week two percent higher than on Monday morning.

The day’s gain was almost entirely down to a strong session from drugs giant AstraZeneca, which leaped 4% on hopes of good news from its covid vaccine trials with Oxford University. So big is Astra that the share price gain singlehandedly added 18 points to the FTSE-100.

Netflix set a cautious tone to the session when it warned last night that the astonishing levels of growth it has enjoyed during the peak covid months cannot last forever. Third quarter forecasts fell short of investors’ expectations. The shares sold off 6% as US trading began this afternoon, bringing a dose of realism to the whole tech sector.

Tech stocks have driven the Nasdaq index to record highs during recent weeks but it has trailed other equity benchmarks this past week, highlighting something of a dimming of confidence levels and perhaps foreshadowing the Netflix reset.

Some traders said that could follow through into UK tech hopefuls such as Ocado which have also boomed through covid. Ocado, though, managed a modest gain on the day.

Investors were eyeing the EU summit today as the bloc’s leaders attempt to thrash out a solution to the splits over whether taxpayers should stump up for a e750 billion rescue fund for regions hit hardest by covid. The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Austria are opposing putting their hands in their pockets to help out those whose populations and economies were most badly scarred such as Italy and Spain. By the markets close this afternoon it seemed like there had been little progress.

Mixed data on the US economy hindered Wall Street this afternoon. While traders had hoped after strong retail sales data yesterday that consumer confidence numbers would be high today, it actually fell, probably impacted by the resurgent coronavirus. Manufacturing data yesterday had also been rough, but nevertheless, the OPEC+ oil cartel is likely ease back on its planned cuts to output as demand is expected gently to rise. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq were both broadly flat.

Positive sentiment on precious metals prices boosted miner Fresnillo this afternoon, which gained 4%.

Homeserve spent much of the day at the top of the risers list before being overtaken by Fresnillo and Astra. It issued a strong trading statement in the morning triggered by customers booking record numbers of plumbers, electricians and other tradesmen to fix their household problems after months of lockdown.

Biggest fallers on the FTSE-100 were WPP, ITV, British Airways owner IAG and Barclays, which all fell 2-3%. It was a poor day generally for banks, who collectively tugged more than six points off the index, with RBS, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Barclays all losing ground.

Royal Mail had a much needed boost, gaining 1% as Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky upped his stake.

Boohoo took a tumble of 3% after an uber-bearish note from Credit Suisse suggested profits and margins would fall heavily as it would be forced to move production overseas to fight the scandal over its Leicester supply base.

Burberry regained some of its falls from yesterday, putting on 2% but still ending the week down 8%.