Global stocks continue their bull run on Friday amid Labour’s landslide victory in the UK. The optimism is further fuelled by anticipation of US rate cuts ahead of key jobs data to be released later in the day. Meanwhile, the Euro also touched a three-week high ahead of the French elections.
UK’s sterling adds to its longest winning streak in four years as the Labour Party wins by a big margin after 14 years of conservative rule. The stock market index also rose 0.38 per cent in early trading.
In Europe, the market focus now moves to Sunday’s second-round election in France. French stocks are not recovering from the dramatic slump witnessed last month after the surprise election announcement.
In the US, rate-cut bets are fuelling the stock rally, with expectations of easing job data. The non-farm payrolls likely increased by 190,000 in June after surging to 272,000 in May, according to a Reuters survey of economists. Analysts point out that easing job data can support the case for rate cuts in September.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin is set to witness the worst weekly fall in over a year on worries of token dumping by defunct Japanese exchange and profit bookings.
Profit bookings on the last day of the week led to a minor slump in Indian stocks, with the Sensex trading 300 points below the lifetime high of 80,000. Indian stock markets have witnessed record highs this month after a big hiccup on the 4th of June.