UK stocks were at their highest in 14 months Tuesday as investors returned to their desks after the long weekend, though gains were only modest ahead of a busy week for economic data which could decide on course for monetary policy in the short term.
Last week’s revelation about a pick-up in US PCE inflation along with stronger-than-expected activity in the US manufacturing sector has “cast doubt on expectations for a June rate cut [from the Federal Reserve]”, according to Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
This was dampening sentiment on Wall Street early on, with stock futures pointing to more profit taking following Monday’s losses.
Nevertheless, London’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.3% higher at 7,973.86 by the midday mark, helped higher by oil and mining stocks as commodity prices gained. “Commodity producers account for a large weighting of the FTSE 100 and the index typically does well when these stocks are bid…
