On Tuesday, FTSE 100 closed flat despite a surge in prices of British Petroleum and budget passenger airline, Easy Jet. The increasing friction between China and the Trump-led US weighed down the UK’s blue-chip companies’ index.
The tensions between the top two nations of the world, USA and China, is not ready to calm down. Tensions soared when President Trump forced the sale of Chinese short video app TikTok’s US arm to Microsoft. In response, China said that it will not accept the US’s move to steal its technology firm and will make significant moves against Washington.
Meanwhile, the index was kept in balance by UK firms like BP and easy Jet. Oil and gas giant, British Petroleum, reported its finest day in two months after it announced to slump its gas and oil output by 40% over the next decade and boost the developments and investments in renewable energy.
Besides, UK budget airline company, Easy Jet, also saw a surge in prices as it announced to add more flights. On Tuesday, the company saw an 8.8% surge and plans to fly at least 40% of its capacity in 2020 summer. The surge also aided FTSE 250 jump 0.9%. Moreover, the UK insurance company Direct Line reported profits for the first half and as a result saw a surge, touching the five-month high.
FTSE100 has been struggling since months amid the continuous surge in coronavirus cases in the world, leading the chances for more extended lockdowns and throwing the world and UK economy in recession.
The gains were further capped by UK alcohol beverage company, Diageo, as it saw its deepest plunge in FTSE 100 Index. The COVID led lockdown in the state has cost nearly 1.3 billion pounds to Diageo and posted a more than expected fall in underlying net sales. Also, a 9.4% fall in UK MNC, Babcock, led by the slump in the company’s quarterly profits further capped the FTSE gain.