FTSE 100 begins week on front foot, Bitcoin bounces, oil falls on India worries By Investing.com

Key Points

• FTSE 100 closing price of 6,962.78, +0.35%
• Standard Life Aberdeen changes name to Abrdn
• Bitcoin bounces after hitting lowest level since March 5th
• Oil falls on India demand fears
• USD steady ahead of Fed meeting

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – The FTSE 100 finished Monday’s trading session higher, supported by a rise in shares of British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines (LON:ICAG) and jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce (LON:RR). The two companies rallied after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the New York Times that the EU would allow fully vaccinated tourists from the US to visit during the summer.

Standard Life Aberdeen (LON:SLA) was in focus (and widely ridiculed) after announcing a rebrand to Abrdn (pronounced ‘Aberdeen’, yes, really).

“Our new brand Abrdn builds on our heritage and is modern, dynamic and, most importantly, engaging for all of our client and customer channels,” said CEO Stephen Bird (or should that be Stphn Brd?).

Shares in engineering company IMI PLC (LON:IMI) rose to the top of the FTSE 250 after the company increased guidance and announced a new £200mln share buyback.

Tate & Lyle (LON:TATE) shares rallied after the company confirmed reports that it is in the process of separating its Food & Beverage Solutions business from its Primary Products business through a sale of a controlling stake of its Primary Products business.

WTI and Brent crude futures both fell after India reported record coronavirus cases for a fifth consecutive day. Although Prime Minister Modi has refrained from adopting a full national lockdown, Delhi has extended its lockdown measures and oil demand is expected to take a hit. Analysts at FGE estimate combined demand for diesel and gasoline could fall by some 320,000 barrels per day in April and a further 570,000 barrels per day in May.

Bitcoin prices rallied after hitting multi-week lows during Asia-Pacific trading hours. Bitcoin fell to its lowest level since March 5th but has since rebounded as much as 10% from the lows to trade back above $53,000. Most other major cryptocurrencies have also bounced although Dogecoin has continued its retreat after hitting $0.42 on what retail traders were calling ‘Dogecoin Day’ last week.

The US Dollar Index was mostly flat ahead of the Federal Reserve interest rate decision on Wednesday. GBP was relatively strong with EUR/GBP dropping below 0.8700 and GBP/USD trading in close proximity to 1.3900.

Looking ahead

After the US market closes, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is scheduled to report earnings. Focus may be as much on the company’s Bitcoin holdings as it is on the number of vehicles it delivered during the quarter.