UK Indexes Extend World Gains

Arthi Gupta
13 Jul, 2012
New York City

The UK indexes gained after the Bank of England launched a scheme to boost lending to the economy. The UK leading index dropped 0.8% and Irish surplus rose slightly in May. Global indexes rose after China reported growth.

[R]3:30 PM London – The UK indexes gained after the Bank of England launched a scheme to boost lending to the economy. The UK leading index dropped 0.8% and Irish surplus rose slightly in May. Global indexes rose after China reported growth.[/R]

The UK indexes edged higher after the Bank of England and Treasury took steps to boost lending in the economy.

According to the new scheme, banks and building societies that increase lending to UK households and businesses will be able to borrow more and at lower cost in a newly set up Lending Scheme.

China reported better-than-estimated GDP and production data.

Italy completed the debt offering of €5.25 billion from a bond sale today. And, markets largely ignored the latest two-notch downgrade of the Italian debt by a ratings agency Moody''s to Baa2 from A3 and maintained negative outlook.

In London, the benchmark index FTSE 100 gained 66.81 or 1.2% to 5,675.25 and the pound edged higher to $1.5473.

For the week, the FTSE 100 Index gained 0.2%.

UK Leading Index Drops

The UK leading index dropped 0.8% in May following a 0.2% gain in April, the Conference Board said in a report today.

The coincident index, a measure of current economic activity, grew 0.2% in May, after declining 0.1% in April.

Irish Surplus Rises

Ireland''s merchandise trade surplus rose slightly to €3.451 billion in May from the €3.447 billion surplus recorded in April, preliminary data released by the Central Statistics Office showed.

Exports increased a seasonally adjusted 7% sequentially to €7.515 billion in May. Imports advanced 15% from a month ago to €4.065 billion during the month.

Gainers & Losers

Anglo American plc climbed 1.4% to 2,037 pence after the miner and Codelco agreed to an extension of the period for exploring the possibility of negotiating an agreement in relation to Anglo American Sur.

SSE PLC, the electric utility company fell 0.4% to 1.414 pence after a broker downgrade.

Vodafone Group plc rose 0.5% to 182.85 pence after the mobile telephone services provider announced that its Irish subsidiary and Irish high speed network operator Three Ireland have entered into a strategic partnership to share network infrastructure.