London stocks may regain footing this week

LONDON: AFTER a series of roller-coaster sessions, investors are likely to take advantage of a bank holiday on Monday to regain their footing for this week.

The FTSE 100 Index gained 1.77% over the week to finish at 5,129.92 points.

This was a sizeable progression coming after a dive of more than 5% the previous week, but masked days of great highs and lows.

The London index went from one extreme to another, beginning the week with a solid rise of over 1% on news of the imminent fall of Moamer Kadhafi's regime in Libya before falling again on nervous anticipation ahead of a key speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

The week finally ended flat after the Bernanke speech showed no indication that the US central bank would carry out new stimulus measures to revive a hesitant US economy.

Bernanke offered no new Fed stimulus measures in his speech at a central bankers' conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and instead urged US government leaders to take action to put people back to work.

Once the London exchange reopens tomorrow (Tuesday), international worries are likely to dominate the following days as no major economic indicators or company results are in the offing in Britain for the week.

Traders will focus on the monthly employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday for indications whether the economic outlook in the United States is as troubled as some data has signaled already. AFP