FTSE 100 Gains Most in Three Years as Election Bounce Continues
- Index rises to four-month high, extending Friday’s gain
- Investors cheer reduced uncertainty after election result
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index jumped the most since June 29, 2016 on Monday, as last week’s election result continued to soothe investors’ nerves over Britain’s exit from the European Union, while the prospect of a trade deal between the U.S. and China boosted commodity-exposed stocks.
The benchmark for U.K. blue-chip stocks rose as much as 2.7% and hit its highest level in more than four months, before trimming gains and closing the day up 2.3%. On Friday the FTSE 100 gained 1.1% as investors cheered the Conservative majority win by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which gives the leader a stronger mandate to take Britain out of the European Union and thus remove a key pillar of uncertainty for markets. A relatively flat pound on Monday also helped the FTSE 100, which tends to have a negative correlation with sterling.