FSTE Climbs as Concerns Over US Economy Ease

The stock index of the UK’s biggest publicly-listed companies edged higher on Friday after concerns eased over the state of the US economy.

The BBC is reporting that the FTSE 100, which is made up of the country’s biggest businesses including banks, airlines and house builders, rose in early trading.

It follows stronger trading in the US where stock markets had their best day in almost two years on Thursday.

Global financial markets have been spooked in the past seven days over fears that the world’s biggest economy could be heading for a slowdown.

But on Thursday, official data revealed US unemployment claims rose by less than expected.

According to reports by the BBC, the benchmark S&P 500 index ended the day 2.3 per cent higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq jumped 2.9 per cent.

In London, the FTSE 100 ticked up 0.7 per cent.

Stock markets indexes in Paris and Frankfurt followed a similar path.

Stocks in Asia made modest gains, recovering some of the losses after Japanese indexes had their worst day since 1987 earlier in the week.