Monday's mood was one of caution on UK markets with very little confidence to be drawn from the US. By close of play the FTSE 100 was slightly down, whilst the FTSE TechMARK fell by almost 2%. Investors seemed to dump banking stocks early on and then change their minds. Technology stocks generally fared badly. Local elections are due on Thursday this week.
Tuesday was a better day for the FTSE 100 although the market was only slightly up by the end of the day. A better day also for the FTSE TechMARK, also managing a small gain. Investors seemed concerned about the US economy with a lot of their economic data expected soon. It was a good day for software and telecommunication stocks and there were rumours that French firm Carrefour were to bid for Safeway.
Wednesday saw the FTSE 100 follow US markets downwards after they released some worse than expected economic data. Whilst the FTSE TechMARK managed a flat close for the day, the FTSE 100 fell by almost 1%. Leading the fall were telecommunication, banking and oil stocks. The trading day seemed very light as most of Europe were on May Day bank holiday.
Thursday saw a reversal of fortune for banking and oil stocks. They seemed to reverse their downward spiral and moved higher. Pharmaceutical and telecommunication stocks also moved higher. With all of the upward movement, the FTSE 100 managed to close up by 1% and the FTSE TechMARK soared by almost 2%.
Friday saw an achievement for the FTSE 100 - Vodafone shares fell by 10% but the index still managed a gain for the day of over 0.5%. The index was propped up by yet more confidence in banking and oil stocks and closed with an almost 1% gain for the week. Not such good news for the TechMARK, it closed down over 1% and managed a 1.5% loss for the week.