FTSE 100 Competition Results week 8
The market this week has brought us a new leader
The FTSE 100 has ended the first quarter of 2023 in positive territory, despite enduring a pummelling in early March caused by the collapse or near collapse of several global banks.
The index closed on Friday at 7,631.74 points, well off the peak of more than 8,000 it reached in February but up from Monday’s opening value 7,405.45.
Recent volatility driven by banking stocks and fears of a widening crisis across the sector have markedly calmed. The continued recovery in sentiment surrounding the banking sector helped London stocks finish firmly in the green. The FTSE 100 also benefitted from positive trading for housebuilder and commercial property owners.
In company news, Ocado had strong sessions of gains as sentiment rebounded following its trading update on Tuesday. The online retail business closed at 527.2p, swinging to its highest for three weeks and gained a massive 21.8% on the week.
Rolls-Royce announced the appointment of BP’s Helen McCabe as its new chief financial officer. She will work alongside Tufan Erginbilgic, the new chief executive who also came from BP. Shares in Rolls-Royce were boosted but closed up only 3.8% on the week.
This week’s best performers were as follows:-
Ocado Group +21.8%
International Consolidated Airlines +11.4%
Burberry Group +10.4%
M&G plc +10.2%
DCC plc +10.0%
3i +9.2%
Only nine of the FTSE 100 lost ground this week. A slump in value of Next was due to a more tentative profit outlook but there’s, and none of the other losses were as significant as the gains.
This week’s poorest performers were as follows:-
Next plc -1.8%
Haleon plc -1.2%
British American Tobacco -1.1%
Imperial Brands Group -1.0%
Aviva plc -1.0%
Smith & Nephew -1.0%
The consequences of this week’s market movements are that in our FTSE competition Crispy Crumb and James Grieve gained eight places while Malcolm Hemingway and Brian D lost eight and seven places respectively. All four are in the middle of our league.
The market this week has brought us a new leader as second placed Mark Grant and leader Zona Paton exchanged places. Liz P dropped back out of the top ten as Lewis Grieve came in at number 7 in an otherwise unchanged top ten. At the other end the bottom six shuffled but are still the same six and Jennifer Grieve is holding on to her last place.
Four weeks still to run.
