Anti-Viral Masks Essential to control Viruses19 Nov 2020 13:31
LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Vaccine Cheer Recedes As Lockdown Jitters Return
Thu, 19th Nov 2020 12:01
(Alliance News) -Â London stocks struggled on Thursday as lockdown worries came to the fore once more, with New York announcing plans to shut schools and Japan registering record daily coronavirus infections.
The FTSE 100 was down 57.16 points, or 0.9%, at 6,328.08 midday Thursday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 110.91 points, or 0.6%, at 19,588.96. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.1% at 1,016.78.
The Cboe UK 100 index was down 1.0% at 629.90. The Cboe 250 was down 0.6% at 16,972.46, and the Cboe Small Companies flat at 11,257.29.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.9% and 1.0% respectively on Thursday.
"Once again, rising infection rates and lockdown concerns are the market's primary focus as positivity on the back of recent Covid-19 vaccine headlines is quickly fading," said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at Axi.
He continued: "And in what could be a foreshadow of more wide-sweeping public health measures, as virus cases across the globe continue to rise, the latest Covid beat down is coalescing with New York City's school system set to be shut down again today."
New York Major Bill de Blasio said the schools would shut from Thursday "out an abundance of caution" after the city recorded a seven-day average positivity rate of 3%. New York City is the largest school district in the US with 1.1 million students.
The city has also re-imposed some restrictions on bars and restaurants.
The decision in New York came as the Johns Hopkins University tally on Wednesday showed that more than a quarter million people have died from Covid-19 in the US.
Outside of the US, Japan's prime minister said the country is on "maximum alert" after logging a record number of daily coronavirus infections. More than 2,000 cases were recorded nationwide on Wednesday, with nearly 500 in the capital Tokyo alone.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he would support local regions if they asked businesses to close early, and that restrictions including limiting groups at restaurants to four people should be considered.
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