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| | London Market Report |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | London close: UK stocks shrug off weak data, finish higher after late rally UK stocks rebounded slightly on Wednesday as investors went bargain-hunting after the worst sell-off so far this year, with markets pushing into positive territory by the close. Disappointing economic data from China and weak production figures from the UK pressured equities lower earlier on, though a decent start on Wall Street boosted buying in afternoon trade. The FTSE 100, which tumbled 2.5% to a seven-week low of 6,702.84 on Tuesday, finished the session up 0.28% at 6,721.51. Nevertheless, UK markets were relatively subdued compared with their European counterparts as exporters on the continent benefitted from a weaker euro, which was trading its lowest in nearly 12 years against the dollar. Rising speculation about a sooner-than-expected rate hike by the Federal Reserve and the start of the European Central Bank's bond-buying programme was driving the single currency closer to parity against the greenback. The Fed should have already raised interest rates given the "rapidly improving" US economy, St Louis Fed president James Bullard said on Wednesday. Economic data misses forecasts Upside was limited in morning trade on Wednesday after UK industrial production unexpectedly slipped by 0.1% in January, surprisingly analysts who had expected 0.2% growth after a 0.2% decline in December. Analysts at Capital Economics said the figures "provided further disappointing signs that the sector’s recovery is struggling to re-gain momentum, after almost grinding to a halt in the fourth quarter". The annual rate of Chinese fixed asset investment growth slowed to 13.9% last month from 15.7% in January and Chinese retail sales grew 10.7% year-on-year in February, compared with 12% previously. Meanwhile, Chinese industrial production growth eased to just 6.8% from 8.3%, the lowest increase since March 2009. The worse-than-expected data came just a week after China's government lowered its economic growth target to "around 7%" this year from 7.4% in 2014. "Coming after a slump in factory gate prices yesterday, falls in retail sales and industrial production underlined the theme of a slowing Chinese economy," said analyst Chris Beauchamp from IG. Domino Printing soars, Cairn and N Brown sink Japan-based office equipment supplier Brother Industries has agreed to acquire British printing technology company Domino Printing Sciences for £1.03bn, causing shares in the FTSE 250 group to surge 30.5%. Domino, which has operations in the UK, China, Germany, India, Sweden and the US, will continue to operate as a standalone division in the business. Cairn Energy dropped 17% after being issued with a bill of at least $1.6bn by the Indian government due to unpaid tax by a subsidiary, which the oil group has contested. Retailer N Brown fell 15.5% after delivering its second profit warning in six months due to lower-than-expected product gross margins in the fourth quarter. The company said pre-tax profit for the full year would be "slightly below the range previously guided". Shares in Burberry advanced after the British fashion house appointed Fabiola Arredondo as a non-executive director. Arredondo, once named by The Wall Street Journal as the most influential businesswoman in Europe, has previously held senior roles at Yahoo, the BBC and Bertelsmann. Comments from Exane BNP Paribas were hitting the share price of Johnson Matthey as it lowered its stance on the chemicals outfit from 'outperform' to 'neutral', saying it sees lower medium-term structural growth and growing risks. Copper miner Antofagasta dropped as sentiment continues to be dampened by social unrest and court cases affecting its flagship Los Pelambres copper project in Chile. Other mining stocks were mixed, with Anglo American and Randgold trading higher and Glencore and Fresnillo in the red. |
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| | Market Movers
techMARK 3,137.12 +0.99%
FTSE 100 6,721.51 +0.28%
FTSE 250 16,948.85 +0.16% FTSE 100 - Risers
Aggreko (AGK) 1,572.00p +3.76%
Royal Mail (RMG) 437.60p +3.60%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 562.00p +3.02%
CRH (CRH) 1,742.00p +2.53%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 450.70p +2.18%
Schroders (SDR) 3,128.00p +2.16%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,116.00p +2.10%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,545.00p +1.91%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,850.00p +1.87%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,475.00p +1.79% FTSE 100 - Fallers
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,089.00p -2.33%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 657.00p -1.94%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 699.00p -1.69%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 939.50p -1.67%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,253.00p -1.36%
BG Group (BG.) 840.00p -1.32%
Fresnillo (FRES) 650.00p -1.07%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 318.60p -0.99%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,811.00p -0.77%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 78.16p -0.75% FTSE 250 - Risers
Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 941.00p +30.51%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 775.00p +5.87%
Greggs (GRG) 1,013.00p +4.76%
Pace (PIC) 380.60p +4.25%
Afren (AFR) 6.48p +3.51%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,185.00p +2.97%
Alent (ALNT) 399.10p +2.86%
Booker Group (BOK) 159.00p +2.78%
Renishaw (RSW) 2,413.00p +2.68%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 900.00p +2.51% FTSE 250 - Fallers
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 338.90p -17.06%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 155.00p -15.49%
IP Group (IPO) 221.80p -5.38%
Hunting (HTG) 466.60p -4.39%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,560.00p -4.06%
Premier Oil (PMO) 138.60p -4.02%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,243.00p -3.15%
Just Eat (JE.) 335.80p -3.00%
Drax Group (DRX) 374.90p -2.98%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 163.10p -2.92% |
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| | Europe Market Report | | | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  | | | | | | Europe close: Stocks rally amid ECB's QE, Greek debt talks European stocks rallied as Greece started talks with official international creditors and as the European Central Bank's quantitative easing programme entered its third day. Greece began technical talks with creditors in Brussels on Wednesday to work towards an agreement on the reforms needed to unlock further aid. However, EU officials cautioned that the meeting would not produce any outcome as yet.
Separately ECB President Mario Draghi said the €1.1trn QE package should shield countries in the Eurozone from any knock-on effect from the instability in Greece.
"We also saw a further fall in the sovereign yields of Portugal and other formerly distressed countries in spite of the renewed Greek crisis," Draghi told a conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
"This suggests that the asset purchase programme may be shielding euro area countries from contagion."
The ECB's bond-buying programme began on Monday in an effort to boost the recovery and bring inflation up towards the target of just below 2%.
Craig Erlam, analyst at Oanda, said the programme is "undoubtedly having a big impact on the financial system, flooding it with liquidity and driving Eurozone bond yields to record lows, while capital is already flowing elsewhere as investors look for better yields".
The euro dropped 1.18% to $1.0572.
In China, a report showed retail sales rose 10.7% in February, compared to forecasts for a 11.6% jump and the previous month's 12% gain.
Chinese industrial production climbed 6.8% in February after a 8.3% rise, another report revealed. Analysts had predicted a 7.7% increase.
UK industrial production grew 1.3% in January, as expected, after a 0.8% rise the prior month. Manufacturing output in the UK increased 1.9% in January, less than the 2.6% projected, following a 2.6% increase in December.
NIESR showed the UK's economy maintained its rate of expansion over the three months to February, growing by 0.6%, in-line with its average pace of growth since June 2014. The NIESR's current estimate is for growth of 2.9% this year and 2.3% next year.
Companies: Bayer, Adecco
Bayer AG jumped as the company said it intends to increase health-care sales by an average of about 6% a year through 2017.
Adecco SA rallied after the provider of temporary workers reported 2014 net income that beat analysts' expectations.
Remy Cointreau SA advanced as Goldman Sachs recommended buying the shares, citing benefits of a weaker euro and improving demand from China.
JCDecaux SA declined after largest shareholders, the Decaux family, sold 12m of their shares.
Deutsche Post AG slumped as the European postal service posted quarterly earnings that missed forecasts and warned that operating profit growth this year may be limited to less than 3%. |
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| | US Market Report | | US open: Dow plunges over 200 points as investors fear rate hike US stocks swung to losses early on Tuesday, as investors feared the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soon.
Just after 10:00 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 220 points, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq losing 21 and 55 points respectively.
The dollar soared to near a 12-year high against the euro, gaining 0.8% against the European currency and 0.2% against the pound. However, the greenback slid 0.2% against the yen, while gold futures advanced 0.25% to $1,169.40.
"Regardless of whether the Fed hikes in June or September, it's coming and it's not very far away," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.
"That makes the dollar very strong compared to its peers, even sterling which is in a similar position with the Bank of England seen raising rates later this year. Today's rally in the dollar has weighed on commodities as a stronger dollar makes them more expensive when priced in other currencies."
Meanwhile, job openings in the US rose 2.4% to 5m in January, reaching a 14-year high, according to the Labor Department.
Official figures showed that the number of people hired fell marginally to 5m, while separations - which include layoffs, workers who quit and who are fired - dropped from 4.90m to 4.82m.
In company news, Urban Outfitters gained almost 9% after reporting better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings on Monday night.
Lumber Liquidators Holdings jumped 10% after releasing the agenda for a conference call with investors scheduled for Thursday, in which it will provide an update on its products' safety.
Newmont Mining gained 1% in the wake of an upgrade from analysts at Jeffries.
Bookseller Barnes & Noble fell over 3% after its quarterly profit fell share of analysts' expectations.
United Rentals was another among the S&P 500 biggest losers, with shares in the equipment rental group down 3%, or 14% in the year to date. |
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| | Broker Tips | | Broker tips: Tullow Oil, Smith & Nephew, Johnson Matthey, Cairn Energy Westhouse Securities has maintained a 'buy' recommendation on Tullow after the oil producer and explorer delivered a positive update on its appraisal programme in Kenya.
"Tullow is now trading at an unprecedented 36% discount to our core net asset value [forecast] despite having high margin production in West Africa which we expect to grow strongly in the coming 18-24 months," the broker said. Westhouse has a 600p target for the stock, suggesting substantial upside from Wednesday's price of around 322.5p, up 0.2% on the day.
The M&A premium factored into the price of Smith & Nephew (S&N) will likely start to unwind, according to JPMorgan Cazenove, which said that a takeover by US medical devices peer Stryker is now "unlikely".
Last week's announcement of a $2bn share buyback by Stryker suggests that the US group has taken potential large acquisitions off the table, JPMorgan said. "We have been surprised at the limited impact that such an announcement has had on S&N's share price. We expect some further unwinding of the premium as investor hopes for any possible Stryker-S&N union fade."
Exane BNP Paribas sees lower medium-term structural growth and growing risks at Johnson Matthey, as it lowered its stance on the chemicals outfit from 'outperform' to 'neutral'.
The broker, which cut its target by 7% to 3,300p, said that growth has "exhausted" at the company, which specialises in emission control, metal refining and industrial technologies markets.
News that Cairn Energy has been handed a $1.6bn tax bill in India has prompted Jefferies to cut its rating on the oil and gas stock from 'buy' to 'hold'. | | |
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