Reuters: Hot Stocks: UPDATE 1-UK's FTSE falls, hit by sterling rise after ECB cut

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-UK's FTSE falls, hit by sterling rise after ECB cut Nov 7th 2013, 17:27 Share this Email Print Reprints Thu Nov 7, 2013 12:27pm EST * FTSE 100 slips as sterling rises after ECB cut * Stronger sterling would hit UK exporters * FTSE closes down 0.7 pct at 6,697.22 points * FTSE falls for third day in a row (Updates with closing prices) By Sudip Kar-Gupta LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Britain's benchmark equity index fell for the third straight session on Thursday, which traders attributed to a rise in sterling against the euro that could hit UK exporters. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down by 0.7 percent, or 44.47 points, to 6,697.22 points - underperforming other major European stock markets such as Germany's DAX , which rose to reach record highs. The FTSE 100 initially rose after the European Central Bank cut its main interest rate to a record low of 0.25 percent. However, the index then fell back into negative territory. The pound rose against the euro after the European currency weakened in the wake of the ECB cut, while the U.S. dollar also strengthened against the euro. The Bank of England earlier kept its key interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent, and sterling rose to a 10-month high against the euro on Thursday. "The UK is in a different cycle. In Britain, the talk is actually moving to eventually raising rates, so many people are buying Europe today and selling the UK," said Darren Courtney-Cook, head of trading at Central Markets Investment Management. MINING STOCKS FALL Terry Torrison, managing director at Monaco-based McLaren Securities, added that the rise in the dollar - used to price commodities - was hurting mining stocks because it could dampen demand from buyers outside the United States. The FTSE 350 Mining Index fell 1.3 percent, weighing on the broader FTSE 100 index since mining stocks account for about a tenth of the FTSE 100. "The dollar rally is in turn pressuring the miners in the FTSE who are again pretty high weighters in the index," said Torrison. Some traders felt the FTSE would stall in November after reaching a 5-month high of 6,819.86 points in late October. However, they added any November pullback would then be followed by a rally in December through to the end of the year, with the FTSE still up some 14 percent since the start of 2013. "There's still plenty of flows coming into the market, from the U.S. into Europe and from bonds into equities," said Chris White, head of UK equities at Premier Asset Management. (additional reporting by Alistair Smout and David Brett; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt/Ruth Pitchford) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions