MARKET REPORT: British blue chips set to end the year on a whimper
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Stock markets look set to end the year with a whimper rather than a bang. On London’s last full day of trading of 2024 (the exchange closes at 12.30pm today) the FTSE 100 was down 0.35 per cent, or 28.77, at 8,121.01 while the FTSE 250 closed down 0.41 per cent, or 84.10, at 20,404.55.
The Footsie has now shed more than 2 per cent this month and 5 per cent since its peak in May. But it remains up about 5 per cent this year and has not closed below the 8,000 mark since April. Despite recent falls, US indexes are set to end the year with their biggest gains since 1997 propelled by tech stocks, notably those related to artificial intelligence (AI), such as chip firm Nvidia.
But analysts have flagged up a likely rotation from high-flying players in the new year, believing expectations have probably gotten too high for AI-related firms to satisfy. Nonetheless tech investors are always looking out for the next big thing, and talk is that quantum computing could be it.
On the slide: The Footsie has now shed more than 2% this month and 4% since its peak in May. But it remains up about 5% this year and has not closed below the 8,000 mark since April. Google said in early December that it had made significant progress in quantum computing with its new Willow chip, which had been able to solve in five minutes complex problems that would take current supercomputers an estimated 10 septillion years.
