Stocks and sterling rose on Friday morning after a week of heavy losses, following gains made by Wall Street on Thursday, reports The Independent.
The FTSE 100 climbed to 6,030.16 in morning trade, after breaching the 6,000 mark on June 14 as polls suggested the campaign to leave the EU in the upcoming referendum was gaining ground.
Analysts said the decision to suspend referendum campaign following the killing of Jo Cox MP in Birstall, West Yorkshire, may have affected the market on Friday as Brexit fears subsided temporarily.
“Investors are considering the risk of Brexit to have been lowered, both by reports that European hedge funds believe Brexit will not get up and, secondly, that the shooting (of Cox) has played against the Brexit vote,” said Angus Gluskie, managing director of White Funds Management in Sydney.
Shares in HSBC were up 0.9 per cent at 430.30 points after the bank paid a record $1.6 billion to settle a lawsuit concerning its acquisition of Household International, a subprime group.
Tesco shares were also up 1.7 per cent to 155.20 points after it announced the sale of 35 Dobbies garden centres.
JD Sports shares were up 0.7 per cent 1,234 points, after the sports clothing shop said it expected half-year results to be excellent, in part because of higher sales during the Euro 2016 games.
The pound, which has slid on successive polls showing Leave in the lead, rose 0.4 per cent against the dollar to $1.4258 and 0.2 per cent against the euro at €1.2677.
The rebound comes a day after the Bank of England warned that the value of the pound would fall , “perhaps sharply”, if the UK voted to leave the EU on June 23.
It said households might delay spending, causing lower demand and rising unemployment.
