(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) As we head into the last week of January Britain’s top share index isn’t all that far away from its all-time high.
As it stands the FTSE 100 needs roughly 130 points to hit its record of 6930.
The last time that happened was on 30 December 1999 – and it didn’t even make the next morning’s front pages.
It remains to be seen whether the blue chip equity gauge can charge through the 7000 level and push towards 8000.
May’s general election might begin to make buyers think about putting their cash to work here in the UK.
Still stock markets around the global have climbed higher after Mario Draghi and the ECB excited traders with their bond-buying plans to boost the Eurozone.
Now investors are keeping an ear to the ground for further surprise monetary policy announcements as central banks react to the impact the sharp fall in oil prices is having on their economies inflation rates and currencies.
Traders will also be switching on their screens on Monday eager for news on the Greek elections which take place Sunday and run through to the start of the week.
If the polls are accurate Greece is on the verge of electing the first anti-austerity party in the eurozone. If that happens Greece's future will once again be uncertain.
Back in London sends out a Q1 trading update on Tuesday following upbeat full-year results in November. The market will be keen to see if that momentum has continued into the New Year.
The big fall in the oil price has led to expectations of further savings on fuel costs for major airlines and also hopes that it may boost the disposable incomes of consumers.
“The surprise news of the departure of ’s finance director Chris Kennedy earlier this month means investors will also be interested in any news of when a successor might be in place” said analysts at The Share Centre.
There are production updates from major metal miners including () Antofagasta () () on Wednesday.
Thursday sees Q4 trading numbers from oil & gas Shell.
According to the share centre many investors should expect these figures to be much more resilient than most other oil companies given the diversity of Shell’s businesses.
The company produces just as much gas as they do oil and gas prices have held up fairly well.
BT sends out Q3 results on Friday. The market welcomed the news of BT’s interest in acquiring EE the UK’s largest mobile network for £12.5bn when it was revealed in December.
Any further hints on how those talks are going and how the deal might be funded will inevitably overshadow the more prosaic trading figures for the first quarter.
Investors will still be interested in the rate of broadband take-up especially for the fast fibre services and the performance of the BT Sport business.
Monday
Finals: () SThree () Intandem Films ()
Interims: ()
IMSs: () LondonMetric Property (LON:LMP)
Economic announcements: IFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00)
Tuesday:
Finals: Benchmark Holdings () Crest Nicholson (LON;CRST)
Interims: Mattioli Woods () ()
Trading statements: Group () ()
IMSs: () (LON:EZY) ()
Economic announcements: UK mortgage lending figures UK GDP US consumer confidence index
Wednesday:
Finals: Group (LON:STAFF)
Interims: Ebiquity ()
Trading statement: Barr () () Antofagast () ()
IMSs:
Economic announcements: US Crude oil inventories US FOMC Interest Rate
Thursday
Finals: Royal Dutch Sheell ‘A’ ()
Interims:
Interims: ANGLE () CPL Resources () Group () Kofax Limited () ()
Significant announcements expected: CBI distributive trades survey EU business climate indicator US pending home sales.
Friday:
Interims: () () ()
Trading statements: Electic Bar Group Fuller Smith and Turner.
Significant announcements expected: UK consumer confidence UK consumer credit UK mortgage approvals Chicago PMI US GDP (advance) EU unemployment rate
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