Week ended 30 May 2009 – Markets, Commodities and currencies

Posted by admin on 1 June, 2009 under Weekly business news summary | Be the First to Comment

Oil continued its rise this week having rising by over 9% last week and closing up a further 7.5% this week at $66.31 a barrel.

Gold is still being seen as a safe haven as the price of an ounce is approaching $1,000 per ounce! Gold rose a further 2% this week which would imply that investors are seeing more problems ahead for world economies, when gold is always seen as a safe investment.

Sterling had a good week rising by over 9% against the Japanese Yen and 2% on the US dollar!
End of the week saw:

	Last week	This week	Change
Stock exchanges:
FTSE 100:	4,365.29 GBX	4,417.94 GBX	UP 1.2%
FTSE 250:	7,541.47 GBP	7,572.00 GBP	UP 0.4%
UK All Share:	22,425.54 ZAX	22,770.62 ZAX	UP 1.5%
US DOW:	8,277.32 USD	8,500.33 USD	UP 2.7%
US S&P 500:	877.00 USD	919.14 USD	UP 4.8%
US NASDAQ:	1,692.01 USD	1,774.33 USD	UP 4.9%
Japan Nikkei:	9225.81 JPY	9,522.50 JPY	UP 3.2%
China H Seng:	17,062.52 HKD	18,171.00 HKD	UP 6.5%
Australian ASX 200:	3,761.60 AUD	3,818.00 AUD	UP 1.5%
German DAX:	4,918.75 EUR	4,940.82 EUR	UP 0.4%
French CAC 40:	3,227.97 EUR	3,277.65 EUR	UP 1.5%
Spanish Ibex 35:	9,308.60 EUR	9,424.30 EUR	UP 1.2%
Currencies:
UK Sterling £ to US Dollar $	1.59063	1.62246	UP 2.0%
UK Sterling £ to Euro €	1.13637	1.14510	UP 0.8%
UK Sterling £ to Japanese Yen	140.691	154.153	UP 9.5%
UK Sterling £ to Aus $	2.04104	2.01274	DOWN 1.4%
US Dollar $ to Euro €	0.713902	0.705888	DOWN 1.1%
US Dollar $ to Japanese Yen	94.5457	95.0774	UP 0.5%
US Dollar $ to Aus $	1.28284	1.24206	DOWN 3.2%
Commodities:
Nymex Crude oil	$61.67	$66.31	UP 7.5%
Gold	$958.90	$978.80	UP 2.0 %