FTSE 100 finishes lower, GBP strong, Oil jumps, bitcoin steady By Investing.com

By Samuel Indyk

Key Points

• FTSE 100 finishes lower as miners weigh
• GBP strong but GBP/USD finds resistance ahead of 1.4000
• WTI and Brent higher as OPEC+ meeting takes place
• Bitcoin relatively steady but price back below $50,000

Investing.com – The FTSE 100 pared back some of the gains seen in the wake of the Budget as miners led a decline in UK stocks. Late yesterday it was announced that the Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) chairman Simon Thompson was to leave the company within the next year in response to the company’s destruction of a 46,000 year old indigenous site in Western Australia. Company shares were the worst performing in the blue-chip index, falling over 7.5%.

Melrose Industries PLC (LON:MRON) was one of the best performing stocks in the index after the company announced earnings pre-market. Alongside their results they also confirmed they were looking to sell their Nortek air-conditioning division.

OPEC and oil

WTI and Brent crude prices rallied as OPEC+ members were said to be close to keeping their output quota unchanged in April. The two major benchmarks both traded at their highest level in 12 months which supported some of the major oil companies in the FTSE with Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) and BP (LON:BP) both benefitting from the surge in prices. There has also been reports that Saudi Arabia’s additional voluntary cuts will also be extended until April.

Sterling

GBP was strong as the themes supporting the currency recently continue to be a factor. Covid cases and deaths keep falling and the number of people receiving their first jab approaches 21mln. Nevertheless, GBP/USD found resistance ahead of 1.4000, hitting a high of 1.3999 before falling back. Separately supporting GBP was news that the US and UK had eased trade tensions with the former removing tariffs on some of the latter’s goods amid the Boeing/Airbus dispute.

Looking ahead

All eyes will be on a discussion with Fed Chair Jerome Powell who is speaking at Wall Street Journal event at 17:05GMT. This will be the last chance Powell has to speak before the Federal Reserve enters their blackout period ahead of the next FOMC meeting on March 17th.