EURGBP
Barclays share price is up by more than 4% today, becoming the fifth best-performing stock in the FTSE 100. The other leaders in the index today are Melrose Industries, Compass Group, IAG, and Lloyds Bank. The bank’s shares are trading at 139p, which is still below last week’s high of 152p.
BARC shares are rising in a busy week for European banks. Yesterday, we reported that HSBC was considering leaving the United States. We also reported that Lloyds had appointed a senior executive from HSBC to become the new CEO.
And today, the leaving Lloyds CEO was named as the next Chairman of Credit Suisse. Further, in a surprise announcement, Unicredit’s Jean Pierre Mustier announced that he would be stepping aside.
Barclays too has been making a lot of headlines recently. Two days ago, the bank said that it wanted to invest more resources to boost its Smart Investor platform in a warning to Hargreaves Lansdown. Indeed, the platform has seen a 230% user growth this year, a better performance than its peers.
Barclays’ goal is to increase its non-interest income as interest rates remain at record lows around the world. It’s not the only bank to be diversifying. Earlier this year, Santander launched PagoFx, a money transfer company while Spain’s BBVA acquired Simple, an American neobank.
The bank has also made headlines as it moves its European business from London to Dublin, Ireland. In a statement, the Central Bank of Ireland ordered the bank to increase its reserves ahead of the move. It is moving about £224 billion of assets to the country. Similarly, Goldman Sachs has moved billions of dollars from the UK to Germany. So, what’s next for the Barclays share price?
On the daily chart below, we see that Barclays shares have risen by 91% from this year’s low of 73p. This makes BARC, one of the best-performing banks in the UK. Last month, the shares soared to a high of 152p, which was the highest level since February 2020. It has pulled-back in the past few days because of the recent warning by Rishi Sunak about the state of the economy.
At the current price Barclays shares are at the highest level since June this year. It is also above the 50-day and 100-day moving averages. Still, it seems like the price will have a slight pullback in the next few days, especially if it moves further below the current level.
In the near term, however, the price will possibly resume the upward trend as bulls aim for the next resistance at 160p.
