FTSE 100 wraps up best week in nine months thanks to commodities sector

Another strong day for the FTSE 100’s mining companies on Friday helped the index record its best week since January as it closed up for the fourth day this week.

The week had largely been one of small gains here and there, apart from Thursday, when it shot up 147 points thanks to a rally in commodity prices.

This continued on Friday as the FTSE 100’s mining companies crowded around the top of the index. It ended the day on 7711.38, up 38.3 points or 0.5%.

The FTSE gained 233 points this week as a result, giving the index its best week since the opening week of the year when it rose 248 points.

In Europe, the Dax index gained 0.6% while France’s Cac 40 was up 1%. But on Wall Street the S&P 500 had dropped 0.9% and the Dow Jones was 0.5% lower shortly after European markets closed.

“Unlike their European counterparts, which added to yesterday’s strong post ECB gains, US indices end the week under pressure,” said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG.

“The high oil price and US import prices which rose the most in over a year reignited inflationary worries.”

The pound dipped 0.1% against the dollar at 1.24. Against the euro it was down 0.4% to 1.161.

In company news, Games Workshop said that its sales had been better than expected over the last three-month period.

Revenue rose 14% to £121 million in the three months to the end of August, the Warhammer company said. It announced it would pay out a dividend to shareholders and shares in the business closed up 11.1%.

Elsewhere, shares in Drax, which burns wood to make electricity, dropped steeply, ending the day down 10.5% after the National Audit Office said it would investigate the UK’s use of biomass.

The NAO report will look into how the fuel contributes to the UK’s path to net zero and how official support has been funded and implemented.

Critics say that biomass should not be classed as a form of renewable energy as millions of trees need to be cut down to feed the industry.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Endeavour Mining, up 77p to 1,658p, Airtel Africa, up 3.3p to 129.6p, DCC, up 104p to 4,641p, Flutter Entertainment, up 325p to 14,930p, and Burberry, up 46p to 2,158p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were BT, down 1.75p to 117p, Segro, down 10.2p to 739.2p, Land Securities, down 7.6p to 592.8p, Ocado, down 8.8p to 763.6p, and Sage Group, down 10.5p to 1,028.5p.