54.5p
And there is every reason to believe this positive trend could continue as the Federal Reserve's second round of quantitative easing is also giving US stock markets a strong tailwind. The US central bank is less than half way through its planned $600bn buy-back of US Treasuries in an attempt to push down long-term interest rates and inflate asset prices. Along with zero interest rates, this is not only giving the US economy another shot in the arm, but pushing excess liquidity into equity markets, helping drive the Dow Jones up 5.5 per cent since the start of this year.