Stock Market Report 30 November 2009

Review of the Week

Last week had begun relatively quietly, although that was simply the lull before the storm. Tuesday saw the first of the big ticket news items as Lloyds announced the details of its rights issue. Towards the end of the week, the world markets were once again rocked thanks to the middle-East and concern over debt repayments in Dubai. Over the past few years, Dubai has been increasing its significance within the World’s financial markets; their sky line has constantly been obscured by the sight of cranes and development however, it appears that even some of the World’s richest nations are not immune from this global crisis.

Despite the concerns over in Dubai, the FTSE100 managed to maintain a relatively flat position when viewed across the full week, closing marginally down at 5,245.73, a loss of only 0.11%.  However, it had a rollercoaster ride during the week losing over 3.1% on one day; the largest one day loss since the early part of 2009.   Over in the US, it was a shorter week due to the annual thanksgiving celebrations with the DOW also closing marginally down at 10,309.92, a loss of 0.08% having opened at 10,318.16.

Despite the western markets remaining relatively unchanged, the key markets in Asia were not so lucky with significant falls being recorded on both the Hang Seng and Nikkei 225. The Hang Seng was the biggest loser, giving up 5.88%, to close down at 21,134.5 having opened at 22,455.84.  The Nikkei 225 also lost ground, closing down at 9,081.52, a loss of 4.38% having opened the week at 9,497.68.

Oil and Gold had mixed fortunes. For the second week running oil remained relatively unchanged over the week, trading in the 76 a barrel range. Gold however, continued its meteoric rise to close the week up at 1,177 an ounce, having risen as high as 1,192 during the week’s trading. Reasons for this surge vary from the continuing weaker US dollar to large inflows of money onto Exchange Traded Funds as investors have sought a safer haven during the continuing financial uncertainty and finally a few concerns around inflationary fears.


The Week Ahead

This week once again very quiet in terms of company announcements from FTSE100 companies with only Thomas Cook reporting on Monday and TUI Travel on Tuesday.



This data is provided by Andy Parsons, Advice Team Manager at The Share Centre. This is not intended to constitute an offer or agreement to buy or sell investments


 

Moneyextra.com recommends you take independent financial advice before acting on any article

2009-12-02 12:10:51 © Moneyextra.com