FTSE 100 futures hit two-month high
IG’s FTSE 100 pre-market estimates indicate that the benchmark is poised to open higher on Labour Day Eve.
FTSE 100 futures at a two-month peak
UK benchmark FTSE 100 index rallied a further 1.6% overnight to pre-coronavirus levels, IG data show.
IG's FTSE 100 futures price estimates showed that the index soared to a two-month high, as it increased by roughly 100 points to push north of 6200 as at 00:00 GMT on Thursday 30 April 2020.
This is the first time since 09 March 2020 – when the Covid-19 pandemic became widespread in the UK – that the FTSE has gone above 6000 points.
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FTSE gains as infection rates decelerate
The overnight gains have come ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later Thursday to discuss the pandemic’s impact on the US economy.
New positive data out of US drugmaker Gilead Sciences’ phase three trial of the investigational Covid-19 antiviral remdesivir in hospitalised patients with severe manifestations of the disease, also appeared to have aided market sentiment.
According to Gilead, the study was able to demonstrate that patients receiving a 10-day treatment course of remdesivir achieved similar improvement in clinical status compared with those taking a 5-day treatment course. More than half of patients in both treatment groups were discharged from the hospital by Day 14.
Adding to this bout of optimism were news that several mainland European countries have begun to ease up their lockdown measures with infection rates slowing down.
In the UK, infection rates slowed down to under 5000 a day for the fifth straight day on Wednesday 29 April. There are now over 165,000 confirmed cases and over 26,000 deaths.
This run of good form had begun last Friday 24 April after oil prices rebounded, allowing for FTSE 100 oil and gas components like BP and Royal Dutch Shell to boost the overall benchmark.
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