FTSE 100 to close in the green; Rishi Sunak urges companies to go back to offices

• FTSE 100 closes up
• Chancellor wants businesses back to the office after lockdown
• Asda loses equal pay case against workers

5.05pm: FTSE closes ahead

FTSE 100 closed on Friday almost 1% higher as global markets enjoyed an uptick on the last day of the trading week.

Britain’s index of leading shares finished firmly ahead, up over 65 points, or 0.99%, at 6,740 with commodities stocks booming.

The more UK company focused FTSE 250 was also strong, adding almost 209 points, or 0.98%, at 21,486.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at trading group IG, noted the rebound that started yesterday on Wall Street had carried over into the Asian session and then on into Europe.

“A steady recovery for the FTSE 100 will come as welcome news for UK investors, and with the mid-cap FTSE 250 making even stronger gains there is reason to hope that the UK’s better performance on the vaccine front is continuing to bolster the attractiveness of UK assets,” he said.

“Overall today’s move looks more like a relaxation of concerns about the rise in yields, although with non-farm payrolls on the calendar for next week there is a risk that this will return to haunt the new quarter just as it has the old,” he added.

Among the top gainers on Footsie were () and Antofagasta (), which added 6.53% to 286.4p and 4.41% to 1,692.50p respectively.  Top gainer was (), which added 6.92% to 1,560p, after revenues for the six months to end-January exceeded analyst expectations.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gained over 228 at 32,848, while the S&P 500 added over 31 at 3,940. The Nasdaq gained almost 45 points at 13,022.

3.55pm: Rishi Sunak urges companies to go back to offices after lockdown

FTSE 100 was heading to a green close of the trading week, surging 53 points to 6,728.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has urged businesses to go back to their offices once lockdown ends.

In an interview published in The Daily Telegraph and the Sun, Sunak called on employers to end remote working.

Sunak believes that staff who are denied the opportunity to slog into the office by their employers will “vote with their feet” and defect to rival firms.

He did concede, however, that there should be some flexibility for those who prefer to work from home.

“If you’ve got the cash, invest it now, because we want you to do it now and help drive our recovery and that will create jobs in the process,” Sunak said.

Westfield Health, a charitable trust that works with companies to help employees cultivate healthy lifestyle habits, said the corporate wellbeing needs to be improved for a successful office return and to cut the cost of mental health absence, which has been calculated at £14bn.

“In order to make the return to work successful, employees need to be reassured that the workplace is safe, and that employers are open to co-creating a new normal. We are not slotting back into the world we left,” said Dave Capper, the chief executive officer of Westfield Health.

2.55pm: Supreme Court rules in favour of workers in Asda equal pay case

The Footsie stalled again in the early afternoon, jumping 60 points to 6,734, while sterling added to earlier gains and rose 0.3% to US$1.3791.

The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of 40,000 workers demanding a compensation claim to supermarket chain Asda of up to £500mln.

The ruling means shop floor staff at Asda, who are mostly women, can be compared to workers in the distribution centre, who are mostly men, when it comes to salary.

Today is the fourth time Asda has lost a court battle on this issue.

Workers’ union GMB has enlisted law firm Leigh Day to work the case on behalf of its members.

“This is amazing news and a massive victory for Asda’s predominantly women shop floor workforce,” said Susan Harris, GMB Legal Director, in a…