LONDON: Britain’s FTSE 100 index hit a more than three-year high on Friday, boosted by miners and energy stocks, while slower-than-expected US jobs growth fuelled hopes that the world’s largest economy may be less aggressive in raising interest rates.
The export-oriented FTSE 100 closed up 0.9%, while the domestically focused FTSE 250 ended 0.2% higher by 1645 GMT.
Precious and base metal miners and energy firms rose between 1.5% and 3.4%, tracking upbeat copper, gold and crude prices.
Meanwhile global markets were firmer after wage inflation showed signs of cooling in the world’s largest economy, raising hopes that the Federal Reserve would not keep rates higher, thereby avoiding a deep recession. Data released early on Friday showed the US economy added jobs at a solid clip in December.
“The resilience of the numbers helps to reinforce optimism that the US economy will avoid a hard landing type of recession over the next few months. This is being reflected in the performance of the FTSE 100 which is once again performing well,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
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