FTSE 100 higher, Bitcoin steady above $40k, USD soft By Investing.com

Key Points

• FTSE 100 closing price of 7,020.32, +1.01%
• Trainline falls after UK rail plans
• Bitcoin steady after Wednesday’s volatility
• USD soft despite improving labour market

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – The FTSE 100 finished higher alongside other European bourses on Thursday and managed to close the day back above 7,000.

The big mover in the UK was Trainline (LON:TRNT) whose shares fell over 20% after the UK government announced ambitious plans to overhaul the rail industry. Part of that plan would involve the rollout of an application and website to buy rail tickets, directly competing with Trainline. Pre-pandemic, Trainline made around 90% of their revenue in the UK.

Cryptocurrencies staged somewhat of a resurgence after the dramatic sell-off on Wednesday. After falling below the 200DMA yesterday, Bitcoin found support at $30,000 and has since bounced back above the 200DMA and $40,000 to briefly trade above $42,000. Other major cryptocurrencies have shown similar patterns although Ethereum has found resistance below $3,000.

The USD was soft which benefitted both GBP and EUR. GBP/USD found support at 1.41 as markets hope the economic rebound in the UK continues following the vaccination programme. GBP has been one of the better performing currencies in the G10 year-to-date and the UK eased Covid restrictions further this week before the planned ending of all restrictions on June 21st.

The weekly initial jobless claims figures fell for the third week in a row, to a pandemic era low of 444,000. However, there was a small rise in continuing claims to 3.751mln.

WTI and Brent crude futures were lower as markets prepare for a potential influx of Iranian crude. Iranian President Rouhani said a broad deal had been reached to end international sanctions, including those on the country’s oil. WTI and Brent crude futures both fell in the wake of the comments with another meeting of the JCPOA planned for next week.

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