LONDON — Britain’s benchmark FTSE 100 share index popped to an all-time record high on Monday, boosted by rising commodity prices, which pushed up stocks in the index’s many mining firms.
Around 30 minutes after markets in Europe opened for the week, the FTSE reached a peak of 7,460 points, surpassing its previous all-time intraday record of 7,447 points, reached in March this year.
It dipped a little afterward but eventually ended the day up by 0.26% at 7,454 points, breaking the 7,435 point closing record set on Friday, May 12.
Here is the chart:
Three of the five biggest gainers on the FTSE were mining or commodity focused firms, with diamond and precious metals focused Anglo American leading the way, up more than 3.2%. Glencore closed close to 3.2% up, while Australian BHP Billiton gained 2.3%.
Miners were boosted on the day by a surge in the price of both oil and several industrial metals. Oil traded up more than 2.5% after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to extend crude oil output cuts until March 2018. This is part their latest effort to rebalance the global crude market, oil ministers for the two countries said on Monday.
At the other end of the index, TUI, the travel company, was down close to 5% after reporting an underlying loss of €157 million before interest, tax and amortisation.
The FTSE 100’s new record high is just one of more than a dozen all-time peaks the index has hit since Christmas 2016, as it continues to benefit from the subdued pound in the aftermath of the Brexit vote last summer. Early in 2017 the index went on a near-two week streak of new closing highs, which at one point looked like it would never end.
Elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s DAX also reached a new record high on Monday morning, hitting a peak of 12,833 points in early trade, before slipping a little. It ended the day at 12,803 points, a gain of roughly 0.25%.
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