Here’s why: Sterling drops while FTSE hits 10-week-high

Retail sales record their biggest quarterly fall

Despite retail sales recording their biggest quarterly fall for a year in the opening three months of 2018, the FTSE 100 index continued its upward trend today and rose 0.2 per cent to 7,333.35. FTSE 250 was also up 105.73 points at 20,117.74.

However, Sterling is trading down a bit against the dollar.The pound fell more than 0.1 per cent to $1.4186.

Senior Statistician, Rhian Murphy comments on the latest retail sales data published today: https://t.co/zL6HGYiGDkpic.twitter.com/oXlhhjHEqO

— ONS (@ONS) April 19, 2018

“With renewed momentum, and right in the middle of historically the second-best month of the year for stock markets, 7,400 is a realistic possibility,” said Lee Wild, head of equity strategy at Interactive Investor.

“A modest unravelling of sterling’s latest advance against the dollar is a clear boon for UK-listed overseas earners, and a strong start to US results season is steering focus back from politics to market fundamentals.

“That’s positive for stocks while data points to rapid growth both in earnings and the global economy.”

Meanwhile, the energy and materials sectors contributed most to the gains in the FTSE with oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and BP and heavyweight miners Glencore and Rio Tinto trading up between 0.5 and 0.8 per cent.