Risk-on mood pushes the FTSE 0.74% higher

Yesterday at a glance: FTSE closed yesterday at 7,627.2 (with a daily low of 7,557) after ending Thursday at 7,571 and gaining 0.74%.

The FTSE upside coincides with further encouraging market factors as highly important Retail Sales data from United Kingdom beat analyst expectations of 0.4% with a reading of 0.5%.

Meanwhile, United Kingdom CFTC GBP speculative net positions released yesterday at 20:30 UTC with a figure of 11,600, while the previous figure was 12,600. United Kingdom Core Retail Sales came out at 0.8%, better than analyst estimates of 0.3% and improving upon the previous reading of -1.4%.

The FTSE shows positive signs, other assets are also on par: Nasdaq ascends 2.19% yesterday and closed at 12,700. S&P 500 rises 1.3% yesterday and closed at 4,151.28.

At the same time, after ending yesterday's session at 19,100, Hang Seng lost 353.08 points and is trading around 18,747.

The index has been trending lower for about a month. Having set a significant high of 8,012.53 3 months ago, the FTSE is trading 5.51% lower.