| London stocks edged higher in early trade on Tuesday as investors awaited the release of the latest construction data, with advertising giant WPP bucking the trend after its interim results. At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,517.05, while the pound was down 0.2% against the dollar at 1.2850 and 0.2% higher versus the euro at 1.1096. The UK construction PMI for August at 0930 BST is expected to reveal a softening like Monday's manufacturing PMI, amid some summer holiday weakness. "A modest fall from the big jump to 55.8 we saw in July is expected to 54.9, though we might see a larger fall, particularly if the school holidays prompt a pause in some longer-term projects," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. Market participants will also be watching out for the latest meeting of the Treasury Select Committee in the wake of last month’s Bank of England rate hike and inflation report. "Under normal circumstances attention would be on the monetary policy committee’s reasoning behind their decision to raise interest rates last month at a time when Brexit uncertainty is quite likely to increase," said Hewson. "Unfortunately, most attention is likely to be centred on speculation around the prospect of whether Mark Carney will extend his tenure as Bank of England governor beyond the summer of next year." On the global trade front, the main focus will be on the US and Canada after they failed to reach an agreement last week. In corporate news, Smiths Group was the top gainer following a report late on Monday that the engineer rejected a £2.8bn takeover proposal from Nasdaq-listed ICU Medical last month. According to Sky News, the deal would have been largely composed of cash with the addition of ICU stock. Packaging group DS Smith was on the rise following an upbeat first-quarter trading statement, while Redrow gained as the housebuilder posted record full-year profit and revenue thanks to higher completions and "robust" demand, but called for clarity over Brexit and the Help to Buy scheme. Halfords was in the black as it said group like-for-like sales were up 2.8% in the 20 weeks to 17 August despite a challenging retail environment and maintained its guidance for the current year. On the downside, WPP fell sharply as returned to underlying growth in the second quarter of the year but posted a drop in profits for the first half. Triggering the sell-off was perhaps the fall in revenues for the key North American business and that group EBITDA of £948m was shy of the average analyst forecast of £973m. Wizz Air flew a little lower as it reported a 20.4% jump in passenger numbers for August and a slight uptick in the load factor, but Ryanair was firmly in the green as it said traffic grew 9% in August. Alfa Financial Software Holdings tumbled as it posted a decline in first-half profit due in part to contract delays and the weaker dollar. Private healthcare services group Mediclinic International slipped as it announced that its Swiss operating division Hirslanden has reached agreement to combine Hirslanden Clinique La Colline with Clinique des Grangettes in Geneva, Switzerland, with Hirslanden retaining a 60% controlling interest in the combined entity. On the broker note front, BBA Aviation was higher after an initiation at 'buy' by Berenberg, while Lloyds was boosted by an upgrade to 'hold' by the same outfit and Hunting gained on an upgrade to 'buy' at Kepler Cheuvreux. Inmarsat dropped after a downgrade to 'sector perform' by RBC Capital Markets and Shire slipped as it was cut to 'market perform' at Bernstein. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment