Risk-on mood pushes the FTSE 0.74% higher

A quick look at today: FTSE closed today at 7,627.2 (with a daily low of 7,557) after ending yesterday at 7,571 and gaining 0.74%.

Uptick comes while some more positive signs for the FTSE are out as United Kingdom Retail Sales improved upon its previous reading of -1.2% with a new data release of 0.5%.

Meanwhile, United Kingdom CFTC GBP speculative net positions released today at 20:30 UTC with a figure of 11,600, while the previous figure was 12,600. Data for United Kingdom Core Retail Sales published today at 06:00 UTC came out at 0.8%, beating projections of 0.3% and showing improvement over the preceding figure of -1.4%.

The FTSE shows positive signs, other assets are also on par: Nasdaq went up by 2.19% today, and closed at 12,976. S&P 500 added 1.3% and closed around 4,151.28 today.

At the same time, Hang Seng lost 1.93% today and closed at 19,100.

The index has been trending lower for about a month. The FTSE has fallen back around 5.51% over the past 3 months, from a notable high of 8,012.53.