Betfair Official Blog

Hooray! BP are making a fortune

Daily View...29th April

Well the over 6100 level on the FTSE 100 lasted less than one trading session, but the positive aspect is that at least it has not been rejected completely. Throughout the day the lack of upside progress weighed down on traders' minds, and by the close, nerves were beginning to fray.

Even so in recent times, the rejection of highs has tended to be rather more violent than yesterdays price action and the closing level was actually virtually unchanged on Friday's close. There are two differing views to take from this - either it is a confirmation of the resistance levels at around 6100, or the pressure on selling was not enough to cause the bulls to throw in the towel.

Corporate results yesterday and this morning have rather flown in the face of perceived wisdom, with retailers such as Game Group's profits doubling (obviously the last thing to be cut out of consumer spending is Johnny's new computer game) and BP (maybe not so startlingly) reporting a 63% increase in net revenue. BP's numbers were struck when oil was at an average of well below $100. Q2 will see (almost certainly) an average substantially higher than this.

Bank stocks look to be suffering once again as the pressure on spending gets ever more intense, and as HBOS finally calls in the rights-issue boys. £4 billion is (like the RBS number) at the absolute top end of expectations so the dilution of equity looks a tad heavy and is likely to weigh on valuations for some time.

The markets today look to be going over the same ground as yesterday with Gold and Oil reversing some of the recent gains.

There is a slight dislocation between the FTSE 100 and the US indices, with the former up 30 points and the latter all down a similar amount, but to be honest there seems to be little in the way of momentum, and with every attempt at a break out either up or down seemingly being defeated, the prospect is for a quieter start to the summer than in previous years.