MARKETS: (DATA COMPILED BY THE OUTSOURCED MARKETING DEPARTMENT)

Equity markets had a torrid February, with most global commodity prices continuing to fall, a failure to address the glut in oil production and the UK’s decision to officially call the referendum on its membership of the European Union, all conspiring to unsettle the markets.

 Here in the UK, the FTSE100 had at one point (Feb 11th) fallen by 9% to 5,537.0, only to recover and actually finish February higher at 6,097.10, to show a meagre rise of 0.22%. The wider FTSE250 followed suit, registering a modest rise of 0.7% to end February at 16,603.1. However, the junior AIM market failed to recover its earlier losses closing at 692.90, for an equally modest decline of 0.12%.

Across the pond the Dow Jones index closely followed the global trend, suffering intra-month losses, but regaining late ground to finish at 16,516.5, a small rise of 0.3%. The NASDAQ, heavily influenced by technology stocks, fared worse, losing 56 points to 4,557.95, so ending 1.21% lower.

Mainland Europe suffered, as economic woes continued with the Eurozone flirting with renewed recession, as inflation there turned negative. The Eurostoxx50 lost just short of 100 points to 2,945.75 a fall of 3.26%.

In Japan, the Nikkei255 index saw the worst falls, losing 8.51% to 16,026.76, as the continuing ‘Abenomics’ of fiscal stimulus, failed to rejuvenate the stagnant domestic economy.

As a direct result of the impending UK referendum of leaving the EU, Sterling was sold off, falling 2.8% against the US Dollar to $1.39 and saw a larger fall of 3.79% against the Euro to end the month at €1.27. At the same time, the Euro managed to hold its ground against the Greenback remaining at $1.08.

Gold had a good month, as its safe-haven status attracted buyers, with the metal rising by 10.45% over the month, to close at $1,234.9 a troy ounce.

Meanwhile, ‘Black Gold’ – oil – again saw volatile markets, with uncertainty around global production levels remaining. The Brent Crude benchmark price did manage to rise though by 2.03% to $36.64 a barrel.

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