FTSE fails to hold 7,100, GBP higher after PMI, Bitcoin bounces By Investing.com

Key Points

• FTSE 100 closing price of 7077.4, -0.2%
• Oil names rally as crude hits multiyear highs
• Phoenix shares fall as Swiss Re cashes out half its stake
• GBP strong after PMI data
• Bitcoin rebounds after falling below $30,000

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – The FTSE 100 finished lower after a late sell off, despite trading with early gains as the index attempts to reclaim last week’s Fed-induced losses. Oil & Gas names were strong after crude prices continued their march to multi-year highs.

Brent touched $76.00 for the first time since October 2018 as the tight supply picture and improving demand outlook continues to support prices. The EIA said US crude stockpiles fell by 7.614mln versus expectations of a draw of 3.942mln barrels.

The rally in crude support oil majors such as Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) and BP (LON:BP), with smaller energy companies such as Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) trading near the top of the midcap FTSE 250 index.

Shares in Phoenix Group (LON:PHNX) were lower after Swiss Re (SIX:SRENH) announced they had sold half of their stake they amassed from the sale of ReAssure last summer.

The momentum in the UK economy has continued into June with IHS Markit’s composite PMI showing one of the best improvements since 1998 at 61.7, although this was slightly below May’s 62.9.

The data comes ahead of the Bank of England’s policy meeting on Thursday and although they are not expected to make any changes at this meeting, the central bank could be looking to turn off the emergency stimulus taps sooner rather than later.

GBP/USD briefly traded back above 1.4000 while EUR/GBP dropped below 0.8550 before finding support.

Cryptocurrencies showed some resilience in the face of yesterday’s sell-off and most of the major coins bounced from their multi-month lows. After trading below $29,000 on Tuesday, Bitcoin bounced as high as $34,700 despite some analysts calling for capitulation if Bitcoin fell below $30,000. Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, showed similar price action and after dropping as low as $1,700 moved back above $2,000 today.

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