FTSE 100 finishes in the green, crude and cryptos rally By Investing.com

Key Points

• FTSE 100 closing price of 7,053, +0.5%
• Cineworld shares jump as cinemas reopen
• Oil rallies on Iran deal doubts
• Cryptos reclaim some lost ground
• USD index falls back below 90.00. EUR/USD breaks above 1.22

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – The FTSE 100 finished higher on Monday in a relatively quiet day following some of the volatility seen during the last few weeks. Shares in Cineworld (LON:CINE) rallied over 3% after the company provided an update on their first weekend of trading since UK cinemas were allowed to reopen.

Although the cinema chain didn’t give any figures, they said trading beat its own expectations, giving an early indication that the economic rebound will continue as restrictions slowly ease.

The return of punters to the big screen suggests people have are confident enough to return to cinemas, according to AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Judging by Cineworld’s trading update, it looks like people have missed the experience,” Mould said.

Other reopening names such as Rank Group (LON:RNK) (which operates bingo halls and casinos) and Restaurant Group (LON:RTN) also performed well.

On the downside, Card Factory (LON:CARDC) shares underperformed for a second consecutive day after Friday’s trading update, where they said store revenue was “marginally down” compared with the same period in 2019. Trainline (LON:TRNT) shares also shed another 5% after the decline last week when the UK announced plans to revitalise the rail network which included the introduction of a centralised ticketing app.

WTI and Brent crude future both posted solid gains as some doubts crept in about the expected Iran nuclear deal. On Sunday, the speaker in Iran’s parliament said a three-month monitoring deal had expired, meaning the UN watchdog would no longer have access to images from Iranian nuclear sites. However, a one-month extension was announced on Monday but the uncertainty about a deal still supported oil prices.

Further supporting prices was a note from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) who said they expect Brent to reach $80 by the end of Q4, even if Iran is able to ramp up production and add to global oil supply.

Cryptocurrencies staged a rebound after suffering another dramatic weekend drop. The Chinese crackdown was cited as a reason for Bitcoin to drop back towards $32,000 on Sunday but prices have staged a rebound on Monday towards $38,000.

Ethereum, which had fallen to a two-month low on Sunday, managed to reclaim $2,400 although still remains around 40% from its all-time high hit earlier in May.

In the traditional currency space, the US Dollar Index fell back below 90.00 although there was no major data from the US or Europe to dictate price action. Focus, as usual, turns to the high number of Fed speakers including Brainard, George, Mester and Bostic. GBP/USD traded in a 60 pip range around 1.4150 as focus turned to the Bank of England governor’s testimony in front of the Treasury Select Committee. Bailey said that the Bank does not currently expect to have to introduce negative interest rates.

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