- Summary:
- US President Donald Trump is taking his time before announcing tariffs, creating accommodative conditions for the FTSE 100 index to thrive.
The FTSE 100 Index returned to the upside on Thursday, extending its record to six wins in the last seven trading sessions. UK markets were ruffled on Wednesday on news of incoming trade tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump. Trump is schedule to speak on Thursday, and traders will be keen to pick cues from his speech. A key area of interest is likely to be on the tariff front, which has already drawn in China, the EU, Mexico and Canada.
BAT (+1.15%), AstraZeneca (+0.91%) and NatWest (+1.10%) were among the notable gainers in the FTSE 100 Index at the time of writing. Anglo American (-1.43%), Glencore (-1.3%) and Tesco (-1.27%) were the notable losing stocks at press time.
Meanwhile, the latest data shows that UK unemployment rate rose to 4.4% in December, beating the forecast figure of 4.3%, which was the same as November’s reading. That could add to concerns over the country’s slow economic growth and add downward pressure on FTSE 100 Index.
The medium-term focus is on the Bank of England which is expected to make its first interest rate cut in February. The UK’s inflation rate declined from 2.6% in November to 2.5% in December, raising the prospect of a rate cut in the first quarter of the year to bolster the economy.
FTSE 100 Prediction
The momentum on FTSE 100 calls for further gains above the 8,576 points pivot mark. With the buyers in control, immediate resistance is likely to be at 8,580 points. However, a stronger upside momentum will break above that level and could test 8,595 points.
Alternatively, moving below 8,556 points will signal a shift by the momentum to the downside. In that case, the Index is likely to move to the first support at the 8,538 points mark. Breaking below that level will invalidate the upside narrative. In addition, the momentum could send action lower to test 8,515 points.
