London close: FTSE 100 books new all-time highs to close above 7000

20th Mar 2015 16:52

Dovish central banks and fading worries about Greece exiting the Eurozone propelled the London market to record fresh all-time highs on Friday.At Friday's close, the FTSE 100 index stood strong at 7022.51, up 0.8% on the day, off a touch from its session high of 7024.21."The FTSE 100's landmark move above 7000 came at the right time. With 47 days left until the most uncertain UK election in decades. The index can expect to go through some jittery times in the coming month, meaning that if it had missed this opportunity come the end of March it may not have had another chance until after May," said Connor Campbell, market analyst at Spreadex.Price-action was driven by Wednesday's dovish Federal Reserve comments in which the central bank said it's in no rush to hike rates. Closer to home, the Bank of England's chief economist and member of the Monetary Policy Committee Andy Haldane on Thursday said rate cuts and rate hikes are evenly balanced, alluding to the possibility that the BoE will cut rates, if necessary.The ongoing activism by central banks to provide liquidity boosted stocks. Low interest rates and unconventional stimulus measures are favourable for risk assets like equities. The FTSE 100 was also helped by a stabilisation in oil markets with Brent Crude recovering to $55 per barrel.Furthermore, the UK equity market responded optimistically to events in Brussels where Greece's government is setting out a list of specific reforms to present to its international creditors. Financial markets are hoping both parties agree on a deal in a fresh attempt to avert a credit default by the southern European nation.FTSE 100: Recovery in commodity prices lifts minersThe recovery in silver and gold prices from previous session lows lifted UK mining stocks with Fresnillo, Anglo American and Kaz Minerals all gaining over 4% each.Vedanta Resources meanwhile spiked after the company's chief said there is no rationale to pay a $3.3bn cash charge on its Cairn India business. Earlier in the session, Vedanta shares slumped after cutting its capital expenditure budget for 2015 by $400m and halving its 2016 budget.CRH was the biggest gainer on the index after building materials giants Lafarge and Holcim agreed upon terms for a merger.Tullow Oil shares surged after the West Africa-focused exploration outfit announced it had successfully negotiated for access to £450m in fresh financing.WM Morrison also traded higher, after revealing that its new boss David Potts bought over £1m worth of shares in the company just days after joining the struggling chain, with the job of trying to turn it around.Centrica however dipped as Moody's lowered their issuer rating and senior unsecured ratings of Centrica from to Baa1 from A3. The ratings action came after the close of markets on Thursday, an indication of lower energy prices and generally poorer trading conditions.FTSE 250: Broker upgrades boost Ophir Energy and DebenhamsOphir Energy was boosted as investment analysts at Deutsche Bank raised their price target on shares from 180p to 185p.Meanwhile, Debenhams was trading lower after the department store was downgraded by N+1 Singer, who moved its rating from 'buy' to 'hold'.Hikma Pharmaceuticals was in the red on its last day in the FTSE 250. The group will replace replacing Tullow Oil in the FTSE 100 next week.