London is on the rise, with the Brexit deal expected

LONDON (awp / dpa) – The London Stock Exchange opened slightly smaller on Thursday, Christmas Eve, as investors waited to announce the Brexit deal after a night of talks between British and European ambassadors.

The FTSE-100 key stock index rose 0.39% to 6521.07 points at 8:15 GMT.

The pound continued to advance from the previous day’s 5 + 0.65% to 1.3578 pence) stimulated by confidence in a deal that slowed the growth of the FTSE-100, where multinationals are strongly represented and whose accounts are penalized by the strong British currency.

CMC Markets Analyst David Madden said, “The health crisis continues to weigh on the markets with the second variant of the Covit-19 identified in the United Kingdom, which could cause problems in the coming weeks (…).” Are concerned “.

European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen is due to meet with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday morning after final night talks on the post-Brexit deal, hoping to finally finally reach a historic compromise on Christmas.

Banking – Bonds in this sector, one of the most important to the UK economy, are at the top of the rating because, if financial services are not included in the expected free trade agreement, they could suffer leaving the EU uncompromisingly. Lloyd rose 6.94% to 39.70 pence, while Barclays rose 4.07% to 158.00 pence.

IAG (+ 3.43% to 167.35 pence) – British Airways’ parent company is facing a nine-day strike of about 850 workers in its cargo division from Christmas, during which many distributors are counting on the British air border to deliver new products on these flights.

ved / etr