Wednesday 08 March 2017 3:07 pm

Budget 2017: Chancellor Philip Hammond delivers boost to FTSE

Philip Hammond's Budget announcements drove the FTSE 100 into positive territory for the day this afternoon.

While no individual companies or sectors appeared to rise or fall too strongly, the FTSE 250 and FTSE 350 indices also edged up after the chancellor spoke.

FTSE 100 today

[stockChart code="UKX" date="2017-03-08 14:44"]

"The chancellor’s last Spring Budget has had a fairly muted impact on the markets," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index Direct.

There were no surprises, the budget was fiscally neutral, and not even decent upgrades to this year’s growth forecast or a rosier fiscal outlook could boost the pound, which has at the time of writing managed to retrace only 38 per cent of the earlier sell off in GBP/USD.

Overall, the FTSE 100 appeared to gain a boost from the Budget.

After closing at 7,339 on Tuesday, the blue-chip index had fallen below 7,320 by the beginning of Hammond's address. But it has now climbed up to more than 7,350.

It was a similar story for the FTSE 250, FTSE 350 and for sterling.