Market Commentary March 2019
01 April 2019
The main UK FTSE 100 market continued its positive month on month gains, finishing March at 7,279.18. This represented a gain of 2.89% on last months close.
Drilling down further into the March figures, it’s interesting to note that the month low was 7,104 and the high 7,355 with daily index movements of up to 2% throughout the period.
Weak manufacturing data from Germany being one source of this volatility, the index is not immune to news coming out of Continental Europe.
Top 5 FTSE 100 rising stock were:
- Ocado PLC +31.5%
- British American Tobacco PLC +11.5%
- Unilever PLC +10%
- Autotrader Group PLC +9%
- Reckitt Benckiser PLC +8%
Ocado followed up last months welcomed announcement of their strategic partnership with Marks & Spencer with a positive trading statement.
Top 5 FTSE 100 falling stock were:
- NMC Health PLC -17%
- International Consolidated Airlines Group PLC -15%
- Carnival PLC – 11.75%
- Easyjet PLC – 11%
- Persimmon PLC – 10.8%
Following the announcement of their annual results, NMC Health suffered from a bout of profit taking and also negative broker comment on their costs being higher than expected, potentially impacting earnings going forward.
The US-China trade deal talks rumble on and, whilst the prospects of a positive outcome in April are good, there are no guarantees and failure to seal a deal could impact equity and currency valuations.
On the currency markets, Sterling continued to fluctuate, falling at the month close as the prospect of a no deal exit from the EU increased.
The price of oil increased slightly as the tightening of supply at the start of this year continued to feed into the market.
Gold fell as investors returned to buying risk assets such as equities.
| 31 March 2019 | 1 month | 6 months | 12 months | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTSE 100 | 7,279.18 | 2.89% | -2.89% | 3.49% |
| GBP/USD | 1.3040 | -1.67% | 0.07% | -7.15% |
| GBP/EUR | 1.1620 | -0.34% | 3.50% | 1.78% |
| Brent Crude (US$) | 67.58 | 2.35% | -18.30% | -0.79% |
| Gold (US$ per oz) | 1,292.38 | -1.59% | 8.52% | -3.65% |
This newsletter is intended to provide a general review of certain topics and its purpose is to inform but not to recommend or support any specific investment or course of action.
Past performance is not necessarily a guide to the future. You may not get back the full amount of your investment.
