Data showing the best annual growth in Britain since 2007 gave UK markets a lift on Tuesday, helping stocks to recover from their worst levels in nearly six weeks.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, a slight slowdown from the 0.8% growth registered the preceding three months but in line with expectations.
However, over 2013 as a whole, the economy expanded at a 1.9% rate, compared with just 0.3% growth in 2012.
"Today's estimate suggests over four-fifths of the fall in GDP during the recession has been recovered, although it still remains 1.3% below the pre-recession peak," said ONS Chief Economic Advisor Joe Grice.
The FTSE 100 was trading up 0.4% at 6,579 by midday, rebounding after hitting 6,550.66 on Monday - its worst closing price since December 18th.
The sell-off in emerging-market currencies - which had sparked big falls across global stock markets in recent days - stabilised today after Turkey's central bank said it would hold an emergency monetary policy meeting to take measures to halt the sharp slide in the lira.
Investors were also beginning to look ahead to the Federal Open Market Committee meeting which concludes tomorrow. The Fed, which began scaling back its monthly asset purchases in December from $85bn to $75bn, will make another $10bn cut this month, according to the consensus forecast.
Ahead of the meeting, investors Stateside will be focusing on a number of key economic indicators out today, including US durable goods orders for December, US home-price figures for November and US consumer confidence data for January.
Source: LiveCharts
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, a slight slowdown from the 0.8% growth registered the preceding three months but in line with expectations.
However, over 2013 as a whole, the economy expanded at a 1.9% rate, compared with just 0.3% growth in 2012.
"Today's estimate suggests over four-fifths of the fall in GDP during the recession has been recovered, although it still remains 1.3% below the pre-recession peak," said ONS Chief Economic Advisor Joe Grice.
The FTSE 100 was trading up 0.4% at 6,579 by midday, rebounding after hitting 6,550.66 on Monday - its worst closing price since December 18th.
The sell-off in emerging-market currencies - which had sparked big falls across global stock markets in recent days - stabilised today after Turkey's central bank said it would hold an emergency monetary policy meeting to take measures to halt the sharp slide in the lira.
Investors were also beginning to look ahead to the Federal Open Market Committee meeting which concludes tomorrow. The Fed, which began scaling back its monthly asset purchases in December from $85bn to $75bn, will make another $10bn cut this month, according to the consensus forecast.
Ahead of the meeting, investors Stateside will be focusing on a number of key economic indicators out today, including US durable goods orders for December, US home-price figures for November and US consumer confidence data for January.
Source: LiveCharts
