Quiet trading sees FTSE end the day flat and stays in a 30pt trading range

A quiet return to trading for traders in London after a long bank holiday weekend saw the FTSE 100 close flat on the day and stay within a tight trading range of just 30pts.

The quiet session is a typical feature of the late August bank holiday in the UK, and when combined with the fact that many traders utilise this time to take their holidays, it is easy to understand why trading today has been rather quiet. Yet we do have a heavy calendar of economic data out in the next three days alongside the Jackson Hole economic symposium. As such, market activity could start to pick up if some surprises emerge.

It is the retailers who have proved to be a key drag on the FTSE 100 today, with the sector losing over 1.5% in trading. Shares of retailer Kingfisher lost the most in the sector, falling over 4% as investors reacted to a bearish broker note from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, who cut their price target on the stock as well as their rating by two notches from outperform to underperform, citing consumer headwinds in France. Alongside that of Kingfisher’s shares to the downside were Marks and Spencer’s, as investors decided to lock in some of their gains after six weeks of consecutive gains in the share price on the back of bid speculation.

The mining sector also fell on the day with ENRC the top faller in the FTSE 100. The miners shares lost 6% as Morgan Stanley cut their price target on the firm to 520p from 840p, alongside that of Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Vedanta Resources in a sector wide revision.

Glencore shares hit their highest levels since 11 May however, rising 4.67% on the day continuing their good run of form. Since 1 June, the firm’s shares price has rallied 33%.

See FTSE 100 Chart below (3 months)