Bank Stocks Deliver Early FTSE100 Support While Mining Stocks Struggle

It was a quiet start to the day for the UK market. There were UK stats for the markets to consider going into the UK open.

The lack of stats left the FTSE100 in the hands of market risk appetite and sentiment towards inflation.

Following Monday’s global equity market rout, hopes are for softer US inflation in April. Market angst over supply chain disruption stemming from the war in Ukraine and China’s COVID-19 lockdown measures lingered, however.

Market Impact

At the time of writing, the FTSE100 was up 0.58% to 7,258.39.

Anglo American (-0.46%) and Glencore (-0.93%) struggled early in the session, while Antofagasta (+0.39%) and Rio Tinto (+0.09%) made modest gains.

Bank stocks delivered support. Barclays (+1.28%), HSBC (+1.25%), Lloyds (+2.01%), and Standard Chartered (+2.23%) all made a strong start to the session.

The Pound remained on the back foot this morning despite a bullish start to the day for the European equity markets.

At the time of writing, the Pound was down 0.19% to $1.23072. Early in the session, the Pound rose to a morning high of $1.23757 before falling to a low of $1.23039.

The UK markets will need to look ahead to UK GDP and manufacturing production figures on Thursday for direction. It may all boil down to US inflation figures on Wednesday, however.