market numbers

The FTSE All Share index, representing the performance of all 627 eligible companies listed on the London Stock Exchange finished last week at 3115.37, a marginal decrease of 10.47 points on the day and 11.14 points higher than its 3104.23 opening value at the start of the week.

So far this year the FTSE All Share index, which accounts for approximately 98% of the UK’s market capitalisation, has gone up 52.52 points from its’ opening price of 3062.85 at the start of trading on 4^th January 2011.

CPI annual inflation – the Government’s target measure – was 3.3 per cent in November, up from 3.2 per cent in October. In the year to November, RPI annual inflation was 4.7 per cent, up from 4.5 per cent in October.  Figures for December 2010 will be published on 18th January 2011.

The Bank of England base rate is currently set at 0.5% and has been at this level since a reduction from 1.00% on 5^th March 2009.  Last week the monetary policy committee (MPC) met to set the base rate. The nine individuals of the MPC, headed up Mervyn King, decided to keep rates at 0.5%.  With inflation starting to take off it won’t be until the minutes of the meeting are published in a couple of weeks that we’ll learn how close we were to a rate rise – and how likely an increase will be at the next meeting.