London, England -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/28/2011 -- Giles Watts, Head of Equities at City Index (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/), provides insight into the market activity that shaped spread betting and CFD trading on February 18th:
“The UK’s FTSE 100 index ended the week with a whimper as it pared early losses to close down 0.2%. The morning session saw a sell off dominated by the mining sector in response to China raising its bank reserve requirement for a fourth time in two months. Inflationary concerns in China remain at the forefront of investors’ concerns and although a move to raise reserve rates caused downward pressure on the mining sector, investors seem boosted by the proactive nature of the Chinese authorities to curb the overheating economy.
The mid-day and afternoon bounce saw stocks rally off their lows with banks and miners recovering from early falls. With a lack of US data to focus attention, traders were circumspect about a week that has seen the FTSE reach new two-and-a-half-year highs, but fail to close above the 6100 level. The FTSE 100 remains locked it in a tight range, and in a week that has seen stellar numbers from Barclays Bank, solid retail sales numbers and as expected inflationary data, investors have pushed the FTSE to new highs but have been unable to consolidate above these highs.
Across the pond, traders have been equally reflective as the S&P traded up 4.5% on the month, double the level at the depth of the crisis – a 100% rally in under two years. Although this suggests a resurgent equity market, recent volumes have been low and there remain lingering concerns. ??In the short term, tensions in the Middle East remain on the agenda, and more long term the lagging US employment market is a cause for concern. Flirting with these new highs, the market seems to be approaching an important test of resolve as it attempts to break through key levels, in reality with underlying concerns remaining it may be that the market is set to trade within this range for a while yet.
Keep your finger on the pulse of the markets wherever you are with multi award-winning mobile trading from City Index. Visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/trading-platform/ for details.
Spread betting and CFD trading are leveraged products which can result in losses greater than your initial deposit. Ensure you fully understand the risks.
About City Index
Today more and more individual traders are discovering the benefits of derivatives, and many of them are discovering them through a City Index trading platform.
As a group, we transact in excess of 1.5 million trades every month for individuals in over 50 countries worldwide. We provide access to a wide range of instruments including margined foreign exchange, CFD trading (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/cfd-trading/) and, in the UK, financial spread betting (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/spread-betting/).
We constantly look to widen the range of assets we offer, improve the performance of our platforms and expand the range of services we provide. The result is that our customers benefit from innovative trading tools with transparent pricing, competitive spreads, and a high standard of customer service and support. For more information, visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/.