The London market made gains in afternoon trading after suffering a sharp fall in yesterday’s session as fears of a U.S. interest rate rise receded.
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At one point all 100 companies listed were trading in negative territory.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 76.1 points or 1.12% as global markets reacted to the US Democratic presidential candidate being diagnosed with pneumonia just weeks ahead of the US election.
Odds for a rate increase at the Fed’s meeting next week fell late Monday after U.S. Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard said during a speech that the lack of inflation pressure means “the case to tighten policy pre-emptively is less compelling”.
Shares lifted 83p to 1214p, as the firm added it is well-placed to withstand the uncertainties of the Brexit vote. The pound was up by around 0.35% at 1.332 against the United States dollar, and higher by 0.29% at 1.186 against the euro.
Asian shares meanwhile have mostly retreated this morning, tracking the USA lower.
In oil markets, Brent crude prices took a hit after the International Energy Agency reported that demand for oil was slowing at a faster pace than expected.
“The data puts a question over how quickly sterling’s recent sharp depreciation and the resulting rise in import costs will push inflation much nearer towards the Bank of England’s 2% target”, said Chris Saint, senior analyst at HL Currency Service, in a note.
In afternoon trading the biggest risers in the FTSE 250 Index were JD Sports (+68p to 1401p), Allied Minds (+11p to 331.2p), HarbourVest (+31.5p to 988.5p), Assura (+1.8p to 59.4p) and Synthomer (+9.5p to 355.5p).
JD Sports was trading higher by 4.4% or 58p at 1391p.
Mr Steiner said the market remains “very competitive” and that sustained margin pressure was unlikely to change in the short term.
Esure shares were also making gains on the second tier index, after the motor insurer confirmed plans to spin off its Go Compare price comparison site and line it up for a stock market listing worth around £474 million.
The day’s FTSE falls were better than expected and defied earlier predictions suggesting the Index would see the biggest drop since the days immediately after the European Union referendum.
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The biggest losers on the FTSE 100 were Anglo American down 35.7p to 783.8p, British Land Company down 17.5p to 628.5p, Associated British Foods down 75p to 2740p, and Prudential down 34.5p to 1333.5p.
