GGood Morning. The Chinese economy expanded at a record pace in the first quarter as the country continued its rapid recovery from the recession caused by the epidemic last year, official data showed on Friday.
The FTSE 100 is now within walking distance of 7,000 points after closing at a 14-month high on Thursday.
5 things to start your day
1) Detection of a part-time rail mobility system:: The new flexible ticket system for seasonal trains is designed to entice passengers to return to the city center if they share their time.
2) Dublin overtakes Paris and Frankfurt after Brexit:: 135 companies moved their businesses to Dublin because of Brexit – more than those who had opted for Paris, Luxembourg, Frankfurt or Amsterdam.
3) GSK shares rise after activist hedge fund received a large stake:: Elliott Management, long-time buying companies it sees as acquisition targets, has built a multi-billion pound stake.
4) The Hut Group wants to be the new Ocado:: FTSE 250 Retailers – Vice President of Technology puts his hopes on the e-commerce platform he’s selling to other retailers, but growth has disappointed.
5) Mercedes presents the fully electric Tesla killer EQS car:: Mercedes has been slower than its competitors in making the switch to low-emission cars, but the EQS is expected to address any concerns it falls short of.
What happened overnight
A string of Chinese and US economic data supported global stocks near record highs on Friday as investors sought a strong global rebound from the coronavirus-induced recession.
In Asia, markets remained broadly unchanged after China saw strong growth acceleration in the first quarter, although expectations were slightly below expectations while retail sales rebounded sharply last month.
Shanghai shares fell 0.2 percent while the Chinese yuan fell.
According to analysts, China’s data did little to change expectations of a strong recovery and further tighten policies to contain real estate investment surpluses.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index outside of Japan is down 0.2% while the Japanese Nikkei is almost unchanged.
The MSCI global stock indicator fell 0.05% in Central Asian trading after rising 0.89% to a record high the previous day.
Comes today
Large corporation: Ashmore (Trade update)
Economy: Trade balance, consumer price index (I), Industrial production, retail sales and GDP (China)
–
