AND ANOTHER ONE: FTSE 100 extends record run into 12th day
LONDON - Britain's blue-chip stock index, the FTSE 100, continued its record-breaking rally on Friday.
The FTSE has now hit a new record close every day for the last 12 trading days, and has gained every day for 14 days. The last time the market fell was on December 20 last year.
The index of the UK's 100 biggest companies ended the week at 7,338.5 points, a gain of 46.13 points or 0.63%, as the chart below shows:
Gains on the index were led by property developers Barratt (up 3.51%) and Travis Perkins, the building supplies company (up 3.1%). At the other end of the FTSE 100 was Rolls-Royce (down 2.44%).
Stocks across Europe gained on the day, with the FTSE's performance actually pretty weak compared to bourses in France, Spain, and Italy. Most other indexes closed more than 1% higher. A boost came from US financial markets, where strong earnings from large U.S. lenders bode well for the rest of the earnings season.
Here's the scoreboard:
