London’s FTSE 100 Index has reached an all-time high at 7905 earlier this afternoon.
The Financial Times Stock Exchange list of the 100 most valuable companies on the London stock exchange beat the previous record of 7,903.5 set in May 2018.
It comes as central banks – including the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve – have this week signalled that their programmes of interest rate rises may be moderating as they believe inflation to have peaked.
On Thursday the bank presented a less gloomy economic forecast despite reiterating its prediction that the UK economy is headed for a technical recession, when an economy experiences two quarters of economic contraction. It also signalled that the latest rise – which brought the interest rate to 4%, thereby making borrowing more expensive – may be the last for some time.
The blue-chip index, considered to be financially sound, has been buoyed by the comparatively positive statements from monetary policy authorities.
Further boosting the FTSE is China’s eased lockdown restrictions.
The new, looser COVID-19 measures effectively reopened the economy to the world. It raised hopes of global economic recovery, as travel to and from the world’s second largest economy has been made more easy and factory lockdowns – which have caused supply chain woes – are hoped to be a thing of the past.
Members of the FTSE include oil giant Shell, drinks behemoth Coca-Cola and British Gas owner Centrica. Companies on the FTSE 100 have the highest market capitalisation on the London stock exchange: the greatest value of shares issued.