Majority of the bourses in Europe finished in the red zone in Thursday’s session. The markets currently shifted their attention on the surprising decline of the British pound and earnings season.
The FTSE 100, however, didn’t go with the flow because it edged up as high as 0.9 percent subsequently when the Bank of England made some slight changes to its monetary stimulus. The U.K. central bank (Bank of England) incited an interest rate hike for the very first time in more than 10 years. Still, it only indicated a slow easing in the near future.
This episode happened due to the decline of the British pound, which has later caused a rally in the stocks in U.K. it came in with some of the major companies earning almost all of their revenues in the U.S. dollar. Pound sterling rapidly fell on the market’s closing as stood at $1.306 versus the greenback.
Looking at other European stocks, the DAX 40 index in Germany dropped as low as 0.18 percent and the CAC 40 index in France just closed below the flat line by 0.07 percent. Meanwhile, the European stocks benchmark Stoxx 600 ended on its session lows by 0.46 percent and most of its sectors on the negative territory.
On earnings news, U.K companies have shaken up the sentiment last Thursday in Europe. Joinery and kitchen products supplier Howden Joinery Group plc was one of the best performers on the day as it finished more than 10 percent after releasing an 8.2 percent increase in its Q3 revenue.