FTSE 100 hits new pandemic highs, Asian stock trading mixed ahead of Fed report, Sensex down 100 points Business News

London’s FTSE 100 ended higher on Tuesday maintaining its pandemic highs, helped by gains in consumer staples and health care stocks. However, the announced delay in lifting Covid restrictions has capped profits in several sectors.

The blue chip index rose 26 points or 0.4% to match what it was in February 2020. Meanwhile, the domestically-focused FTSE 250 fell 0.5%.

Consumer staples stocks generating dollar gains, including Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser Group, British American Tobacco and Diageo Plc, gained between 0.58% and 1.77%, on the weaker pound. While the oil majors have also increased following the prices of crude.

Travel and leisure stocks fell 0.8%, with Flutter Entertainment Plc and Entain Plc among the biggest drops. On Monday, Boris Johnson’s government announced a four-week delay in lifting Covid restrictions, citing the spread of the Delta variant and gaining time to vaccinate more people.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Wall Street indices closed lower as investors await a key Federal Reserve interest rate decision, with data showing higher inflation and retail sales lower in the United States. The S&P 500 was down 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7%.

Asia-Pacific equities also opened on Wednesday morning, dragged down by uncertainty from global peers and as investors also wait for economic data from China.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.5% in the afternoon after trading in the red throughout the early part of the session. Elsewhere, mainland Chinese stocks slipped early in trading and are down 0.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.3%.

South Korea’s Kospi, however, edged up 0.5%. Australian stocks advanced as the S & P / ASX 200 rose slightly. The largest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific equities excluding Japan traded down 0.9%.

Indian indices were trading lower on Wednesday, dragged down by heavyweights like Reliance and mixed global indices.

Additional reports by agencies