London, England -- (SBWire) -- 04/06/2011 -- City Index Market Strategist Joshua Raymond gives his financial spread betting insights for 29th March 2011

“The FTSE 100 traded flat to negative on Tuesday having started the session marginally in positive territory whilst traders showed mild enthusiasm for the final reading of UK GDP which showed that the contraction narrowed from 0.6% to 0.5%.

The FTSE 100 looks to be in consolidation mode, having charged 4% higher last week, with the UK Index lacking much upward conviction over the last two trading sessions. This is only natural having rallied so much so quickly last week and particularly in the context of a heavy calendar of economic data due out this week. Traders could be waiting to see which way the wind blows in terms of economic data before deciding upon their next move.

From an earnings perspective there has been much for investors to get their teeth stuck into today, with firms such as Wolseley, Thomas Cook, Kazakhmys and Man Group all reporting.

It is shares in Wolseley that have led today after the UK house builder reinstated its dividend and reported a 64% rise in profits to £275 million for the first half of the year to the end of January.

Shareholders have reacted with positivity to the reinstatement of the dividend, as one might expect, helping to lift the firm’s shares over 2% to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board.

Italian banks have lagged wider European trade however, after UBI Banca surprised investors by announcing a €1 billion capital hike to boost its Tier 1 capital ratio ahead of European stress tests.

The move has taken shareholders by some surprise and heightened concerns that this could be the start of further cash calls by other European banks.”

Learn spread betting in more detail at http://www.cityindex.co.uk/learn-to-trade/

Spread betting and CFD trading are leveraged products which can result in losses greater than your initial deposit. Ensure you fully understand the risks.

About City Index
Today more and more individual traders are discovering the benefits of derivatives, and many of them are discovering them through a City Index trading platform.

As a group, we transact in excess of 1.5 million trades every month for individuals in over 50 countries worldwide. We provide access to a wide range of instruments including margined foreign exchange, CFDs and, in the UK, spread betting.

We constantly look to widen the range of assets we offer, improve the performance of our platforms and expand the range of services we provide. The result is that our customers benefit from innovative trading tools with transparent pricing, competitive spreads, and a high standard of customer service and support.