Ftse’s record high near 7,000

Dividend cheer for the 3m shareholders of Lloyds Banking Group and other strong corporate earnings spurred the Ftse to a new record yesterday.

The Ftse 100 index lifted to a new intra-day high of 6,967.2 points in the afternoon. This new record is just above a previous all-time high of 6,958.89 points hit on Tuesday. The Ftse later fell back to close 3.1 points down at 6,946.7.

Lloyds posted a four-fold rise in profits to £1.8bn (€2.4bn) and was joined by British Airways-owner International Airlines Group after it forecast profits this year will be much better than it originally expected.