Previous close | 16,392.84 |
Open | 16,378.40 |
Volume |
Day's range | 16,345.90 - 16,725.61 |
52-week range | 14,794.16 - 20,864.74 |
Avg. volume | 2,508,018,770 |
The FTSE and European stocks were higher on Thursday despite official figures confirming that the UK fell into a recession in the second half of 2023.
European shares opened higher after a mixed trading session in Asia on Thursday following another record close for the S&P 500. The future for the S&P 500 was 0.1% lower and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed. The dollar remained strong against the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, a trend that has unsettled regulators in both Tokyo and Beijing.
The yen languished near its weakest in decades on Thursday though the threat of intervention from Japanese authorities prevented traders from pushing the currency to a new low, while Asian stocks rose ahead of a key U.S. inflation report. Markets were largely rangebound ahead of Friday's much-anticipated U.S. core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index data, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation. Japan's three main monetary authorities held an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the weak yen, and suggested they were ready to intervene in the market to stop what they described as disorderly and speculative moves in the currency.