By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — London stocks rose on Friday as investors basked in the afterglow of a statement by the Bank of England that many read as confirmation of a continuing easy monetary stance, and as Goldman Sachs put a year-end target of 7,100 on the FTSE 100.
But gains were not as pronounced as the day prior, as investors awaited key U.S. nonfarm payroll data. The FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +0.38% logged its best one-day and percentage gains since autumn 2011, rising 3%, or 191.80 points, to 6,421.67.
On Friday, the index was up 0.4% to 6,445.62, as several miners stepped back from lofty prior-day gains. Shares of Rio Tinto PLC RIO -0.57% UK:RIO -1.96% fell 1.8%, BHP Billiton PLC BHP +0.50% UK:BLT -1.68% declined 1.6% and Glencore Xstrata PLC UK:GLEN -2.15% dropped 2.8%. Shares of Randgold Resources Ltd. UK:RRS -1.44% fell 1.5% even as Nomura lifted shares to neutral from reduce.
Shares of Whitbread PLC UK:WTB -3.04% fell over 3% after UBS strategists cut shares to neutral from buy, after an investment day. “While we view the new brand and international expansion plans positively, we do not think these initiatives change the near-term outlook,” said Jarrod Castle, analyst at UBS.
On the upside, GlaxoSmithKline PLC GSK +0.52% UK:GSK +1.17% rose 1.2% and Diageo PLC UK:DGE +1.35% gained over 1%. Barclays PLC UK:BARC +1.27% BCS +1.06% was also up over 1%.
Goldman Sachs said in a note on Friday that it was advising going long U.K. equities and targeting 7,100 for the FTSE 100. The investment bank gave three reasons for its view: first, the U.K. economy looks to be on an upswing and second, monetary policy looks set to ease further, especially after Thursday’s dovish statement from the Bank of England, led by new Governor Mark Carney.
“Third, our forecasts also envisage a gradual stabilization in euro area growth in the second half of the year. As one of the U.K.’s largest trading partners, the gradual improvement in growth here should also be a tailwind for the U.K. economy and U.K. markets,” said economist Noah Weisberger in a note.
