Monday saw markets in the UK closed for the Easter Bank Holiday.
Trading resumed on Tuesday after two days off for Easter. However, there seemed nothing to push the markets into the black. The FTSE 100 closed with a loss of almost 0.5%. The FTSE TechMARK fared slightly better but still closed lower by 0.3%. A weak start in the US and slips for telecommunication and oil stocks helped the indices into the red.
Wednesday was another day of losses on the FTSE 100. This time it was technology stocks and another weak start from the US. Oil stocks were also down but financials were strong, helping to limit the FTSE 100 loss to 0.1% for the day. The FTSE TechMARK fared worse and fell by 1.5%.
Thursday saw news from the Bank of England that interest rates were to be left alone at 4%. This was as expected and had little affect on the markets. Losses were again seen for banking, drug and oil stocks, all helping to push the FTSE 100 lower for the third day this week. Losses in the UK were higher during the day but at the close the FTSE 100 managed to pull it back to just over 0.5%. A rise in the US helped the pull back. The TechMARK had another bad day and closed down again by almost 1.5%.
Friday brought a welcome rise, allowing the FTSE 100 to close in the black by 0.5%. This helped reduce the loss for the week to just over 0.5%. The FTSE TechMARK also managed an almost 1% gain for the day. However, due to worse losses over the course of the week, the index was down on the week by 2.5%. Gains were seen in the banking and pharmaceutical sectors but losses for telecommunications and oil.