MARKET WRAP: FTSE 100 ekes out gains, midcaps outperform, oil jumps on Pemex fire By Investing.com

Key Points

• FTSE 100 closing price of 7,121, +0.2%
• Travel & leisure stocks lift FTSE 250
• FX markets steady ahead of Jackson Hole
• Oil prices jump on Mexican fire
• Cryptocurrencies fall as Bitcoin fails to hold above $50,000

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – The FTSE 100 posted slight gains on Tuesday amid quiet news flow ahead of the Kansas City Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium. Sainsbury ‘s (LON:SBRY) shares lagged, paring back some of the gains seen on Monday amid reports that private equity was interested in the supermarket chain. Marks and Spencer (LON:MKS) shares rallied on hopes they’ll be the next takeover target and as both Berenberg and Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) raised their price target for the retailer.

Travel & Leisure stocks were strong after the US FDA gave full approval to Pfizer’s jab, lifting hopes that more people will take-up the jab and keep the economic recovery ongoing. Cineworld (LON:CINE), which has operations in the US, was one of the best performers in the FTSE 250.

Airlines were strong after Ryanair (LON:RYA) CEO Michael O’Leary said the airline was on track to hit upgraded guidance on passenger numbers. EasyJet (LON:EZJ), Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ), and British Airways parent IAG (LON:ICAG) all traded higher in tandem.

FX markets were notably quiet ahead of the Jackson Hole summit. The significant outperformer was the NZD as NZD/USD jumped over 1% following comments from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Assistant Governor Christian Hawkesby. Hawkesby lived up to his name, saying that the RBNZ considered hiking interest rates by 50 basis points this month but it would have been to hard communicate a hike due to the Covid situation.

“It was less about COVID stopping us doing it and it was more about the timing of communicating our policy move – was the 18th of August the right day as the country went into lockdown,” Hawkesby said to Bloomberg in a telephone interview.

WTI and Brent crude futures were higher for the second consecutive day as a fire at a Pemex platform in the Gulf of Mexico is impacting production. The Mexican oil company said production had stopped at the platform, cutting output by 444,000 barrels per day. Focus will now turn to the API US inventory data after market before the EIA releases its data tomorrow.

Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies were nursing losses after the price of Bitcoin failed to hold above $50,000.

“The key resistance level appears to be $51,000 – the 61.8% retracement of the June highs to August lows,” wrote OANDA Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam in an email. “A move above here could see momentum shift back in Bitcoin’s favour, at which point talk of new highs will be inevitable.”

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