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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 open: Stocks edge higher as Brexit looms London stocks edged higher in early trade as investors nosed through corporate news and before attention turns to Brexit a day before Prime Minister Theresa May triggers Article 50 to kick off formal divorce proceedings with the European Union.
At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,306.03, while the pound was 0.1% firmer at $1.2573, steadying following strong gains on Monday.
Analyst Tony Cross at TopTradr said: "With the Brexit honeymoon period for UK economic data already seemingly over, could there be some resulting downside pressure for the pound? As it stands for now, GBP remains resilient, but with a relatively quiet economic calendar in the next 24 hours and nothing of note due out of the UK, the excuse to take money off the table ahead of any potential uncertainty could well see the stiff upper lip move to a bloodied nose.
"The uncertainty of the Brexit process means there's little confidence as to where the UK economy - and indeed sterling - will go next."
In corporate news, Tesco nudged down after agreeing to pay a £129m fine to the Serious Fraud office and agreeing to a finding of "market abuse" by the Financial Conduct Authority for overstating its expected profits in a trading update in August 2014.
The retailer's £3.7bn takeover of wholesaler Booker was also in focus following a report that two of its largest shareholders were advising against the deal.
Wolseley surged after the building materials supplier unveiled a jump in half-year profits, a name change to Ferguson and proposed to start reporting in US dollars.
United Utilities nudged higher after it said current full year trading was in line with expectations, with group revenue expected to be slightly lower than last year.
Insurer Aviva was on the front foot following a report that it is looking to sell Friends Provident International in a deal that could fetch up to $750m.
Thomas Cook gained ground as it said its winter programme is closing out as expected, while summer bookings have increased with strong demand for Greek holidays and smaller European destinations.
Housebuilder Redrow traded a little higher after abandoning its bid for Bovis Homes, saying it was not in its shareholders' best interests to increase its offer.
Ladbrokes Coral retreated after it reported that its first full-year results as a merged company saw profits near the top end of forecasts.
Motoring group AA was in the green after it said full-year core profit was steady compared to the previous year, as expected, while membership increased, reversing a long-standing decline.
Aerospace and defence company Cobham fell after it confirmed plans to raise around £512.4m through a rights issue as it looks to pay down debt. The 2 for 5 fully underwritten rights issue of 683.1m shares was priced at 75p per share, which represents a discount of 41% to the closing price of 126.8p on Monday.
Soft drinks group AG Barr slipped despite reported a jump in full-year profit and lifting its dividend.
Card Factory was in the red after it reported a rise in full-year underlying pre-tax profit, but a drop in statutory pre-tax profit.
Inmarsat was lifted by an upgrade to 'outperform' from 'sector perform' by RBC Capital Markets, but Jimmy Choo was hit by a downgrade to 'hold' by HSBC and Carillion fell on the back of a Jefferies downgrade. |
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| Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,306.03 0.17%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,889.97 -0.05%
techMARK (TASX) 3,458.28 -0.00%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Wolseley (WOS) 5,210.00p 6.70%
Glencore (GLEN) 311.75p 1.96%
Aviva (AV.) 532.00p 1.72%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,179.50p 1.52%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,214.50p 1.46%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 803.00p 1.45%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,611.00p 1.38%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 731.20p 1.13%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,215.50p 1.00%
Barclays (BARC) 226.30p 0.94%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Old Mutual (OML) 215.20p -1.28%
Intu Properties (INTU) 272.30p -0.91%
Hammerson (HMSO) 565.00p -0.70%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 7,302.00p -0.67%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,991.00p -0.66%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,318.00p -0.56%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,989.00p -0.55%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 872.50p -0.51%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,140.00p -0.49%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 333.10p -0.45%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 449.20p 2.63%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 430.80p 2.60%
CYBG (CYBG) 270.50p 2.31%
FirstGroup (FGP) 130.60p 1.87%
Meggitt (MGGT) 445.20p 1.85%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 807.50p 1.83%
Evraz (EVR) 213.30p 1.72%
AA (AA.) 259.70p 1.52%
Serco Group (SRP) 113.40p 1.52%
Nex Group (NXG) 584.50p 1.21%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 399.10p -5.40%
Carillion (CLLN) 209.70p -4.51%
Capita (CPI) 555.50p -2.54%
PayPoint (PAY) 990.50p -2.41%
AO World (AO.) 139.50p -2.38%
Booker Group (BOK) 195.80p -2.10%
Ladbrokes Coral Group (LCL) 132.90p -1.77%
Card Factory (CARD) 269.30p -1.72% |
| | UK Event Calendar | | Tuesday March 28
INTERIMS
Artilium, BowLeven, Inland Homes, Wolseley
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
BHP Billiton
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Confidence (US) (14:00)
GMS
Edita Food Industries S.A.E. GDR (REGS)
FINALS
AA , Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company, Barr (A.G.), Card Factory, Churchill China, Clarke (T.), Cloudcall Group, Ebiquity, Ergomed , Gresham House, Gulf Marine Services, Hostelworld Group , Instem, Ladbrokes Coral Group, LiDCO Group, Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) , Moss Bros Group, Personal Group Holdings, Premier Technical Services Group , Proteome Sciences, Quarto Group Inc., S&U, Silence Therapeutics, Time Out Group, Yu Group
ANNUAL REPORT
Cloudcall Group, Premier Technical Services Group
AGMS
Chenavari Capital Solutions Limited Red
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thomas Cook Group, United Utilities Group |
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| | Europe Market Report | | | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  | | | | | | Europe open: Fed speakers, oil futures in focus Stocks on the Continent staged a bounce in early trading, recouping the previous day's losses as investors focused on the speeches from US central bank officials and modest gains in crude oil futures.
As of 0850 GMT the benchmark Stoxx 600 was higher by 0.39% at 376.47, as the German Dax was putting on 0.55% to 12,062.12 and the FTSE Mibtel advanced 0.44% to 20,219.08.
In parallel, front month Brent crude oil futures were 0.49% higher to $51.00 a barrel after Iran pledged nominal support for an extension of OPEC's output cut deal past June. Euro/dollar was off 0.08% at 1.0857.
Speaking overnight, the presidents of the Federal Reserve banks of Dallas and Chicago made relative 'dovish' remarks.
For his part, Robert Kaplan, the chief of the former, reportedly said he would continue to support further tightening policy as long as the US economy continued to make progress.
That saw the implied odds of a June Fed rate hike dip to 50%, according to Fed funds futures.
Hence, at least for the very short-term traders' bias appeared to be slightly more cautious now.
"While a lot of the focus is inevitably being focussed on the extent of last week's declines and yesterday's losses, the fact remains that US markets still remain up around 10% from when President Trump won the keys to the White House. Whether these declines continue is likely to be down to whether the Republicans decide to put some of their differences to one side and make an attempt to try and make some good policy," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
For their part, strategists at Credit Suisse reiterated their benchmark view on 'Defensives', following an upgrade in February.
Telecoms and Pharma continued to be their preferred sectors, telling clients they remained cautious towards non-financial cyclicals.
"We continue to prefer to play cyclicality through financials and technology, and the cyclical regions such as Continental Europe and GEM," they added.
On the economic front, Italian industrial orders shrank 2.9% month-on-month in January, giving up the prior month's gains.
The economic calendar was rather light on Tuesday, although markets were expectant ahead of a speech from US Kansas City Fed chief Esther George later in the day and another from ECB Governing Council member Benoit Coeure.
Shares in German electric utility E.On were edging higher on reports it was set to return to debt markets with a sale of up to €3.0bn in new bonds.
Bayer was also making headlines after Bloomberg reported Syngenta was running the ruler over some of its assets. |
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| | US Market Report | | US close: Stocks end mostly lower amid doubts about Trump agenda US stocks ended mostly lower on Monday, with the Dow notching its longest losing streak since August 2011 amid growing doubts about President Donald Trump's ability to push through his economic agenda.
The Dow ended down for the eighth session in a row, off 0.2% to 20,550.98, while the S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 2,341.59 but the Nasdaq nudged up 0.2% to close at 5,840.37. Despite the mostly negative close, indices ended off their lows.
Investors were growing increasingly concerned that Trump may not be able to deliver on his economic policies to spend $1trn on infrastructure, cut taxes and loosen financial regulation, after Republican leaders withdrew their support for his healthcare bill on Friday, which was aimed at repealing and replacing Obamacare.
The dollar slumped across the board after the failed passage of the bill. The greenback was down 0.7% against the pound to 0.7958, 0.6% weaker versus the euro at 0.9204 and 0.6% lower against the yen at 110.66.
CMC Markets' Michael Hewson said: "The continued growing pains of the new administration as well as the inability to generate a consensus to deliver a new health care bill has taken the heat out of the recent rally, in the past few weeks and Friday's capitulation appears to have lowered the temperature further, as markets start to catch a cold.
"Having overseen a strong rally in stock markets over the past few months the new US president is learning a hard lesson in the differences between campaign promises and the ability to deliver them in a difficult political environment."
Meanwhile, oil prices recovered from earlier lows. Brent Crude was flat at $50.79 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was down 0.3% at $47.79, after an unscheduled OPEC meeting over the weekend, where the cartel of major producers announced that they would stick to their plan to reduce production and said cuts could be extended up to six months.
On the corporate front, Apple edged up after a Chinese court overturned a ruling against the technology giant over iPhone patents.
Snapchat parent Snap rallied after RBC Capital Markets initiated the stock at 'overweight' with a target of $31, while JP Morgan initiated coverage at 'neutral' with a price target of $24. |
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| | Newspaper Round Up | | Tuesday newspaper round-up: Brexit trade deal, credit worries, Tesco, Santander European diplomats based in the UK say the British government is stepping back from its threat to leave the EU without a trade deal if negotiations break down. In private, say diplomats, UK officials recognise the "havoc" that this would cause, and have come to regret the threat to turn the UK into a deregulated offshore tax haven, implicit in Theresa May's Lancaster House speech in January, when she warned that "no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal". - Guardian
Theresa May's ambitions to create a "global Britain" after Brexit have been boosted by Qatar's announcement that it expects to invest £5bn in the UK over the next five years. On Monday, two days before the planned triggering of article 50, Qatari investors at a London conference suggested they were unperturbed by the prospect of Britain's departure from the EU and were looking for further opportunities to build on already significant investments in the UK that include the Olympic Village in east London, the Shard building, Harrods department store and a stake in Sainsbury's. - Guardian
An increase in personal loans and rising levels of debt on credit cards have led the Bank of England to announce a review into whether the UK's biggest banks have let their lending criteria become too loose. Britons are taking out unsecured loans at the fastest rate in more than 11 years and the Bank's financial policy committee, which oversees financial stability, is concerned that a surge in the indebtedness of households could fuel another debt bubble, noting that consumer credit was "growing particularly rapidly". - The Times
The financial sector will carry on growing despite Brexit but at a slower pace for the next couple of years, according to a survey. The rate of growth for personal and business lending is expected to slow in the next two years as real incomes weaken but a pronounced pick-up is predicted for 2019 and 2020, EY's Item Club said. -The Times
Two of Tesco's largest shareholders have chastised the supermarket for its "foolhardy" £3.7bn merger with wholesaler Booker, arguing the deal would destroy billions of pounds worth of value. Schroders, the grocer's third biggest investor, and Artisan Partners, the fourth largest, have written to Tesco's board to urge the company to abandon its tie-up with Booker, throwing the deal into doubt. - Telegraph
The Serious Fraud Office and Tesco are within days of announcing a settlement that could mean Britain's biggest supermarket chain will pay a multimillion-pound fine over an accounting scandal. Under the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), Tesco would pay a penalty that could be well over £100m and agree to other conditions in return for avoiding formal prosecution for overstating its profits. - Guardian
A high street bank employs hundreds of its staff on one-hour-a-month contracts, fuelling the debate about employees' rights and flexible working. Santander's contracts are different from the controversial zero-hour arrangements, which do not guarantee any work at all and in some cases prohibit individuals from accepting work elsewhere. - The Times
Britain's biggest companies have been urged to increase the number of black and minority ethnic people they employ - with hints that legislation could come to ensure this happens if improvements do not come voluntarily. Business Minister Margot James has written to all FTSE 350 businesses asking them to take up the recommendations in a government review published last month which found that black and minority ethnic (BME) groups are being held back in the workplace because of their skin colour. - Telegraph
Virgin Atlantic is predicting it will make its first loss in four years this year thanks in part to the weakness of sterling. Craig Kreeger, the chief executive of the Sir Richard Branson-backed airline, said that he is forecasting a loss for the 2017 calendar year, as the airline struggles to cope with the fall in the value of the pound since last June's EU referendum. - Telegraph
Only a third of the value of new UK offshore wind farm projects is being spent with British companies, according to analysis. As a result the cost of subsidies to projects will outweigh their benefits, a report by the government-backed innovations company Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (Orec) suggests. - The Times
The NHS is to stop giving patients travel vaccinations, gluten-free foods and some drugs that can be bought over the counter in an effort to rescue its ailing finances. Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, announced the changes in an interview with the Daily Mail in which he detailed new efforts to get better value for money so that money saved could instead be spent on promising therapies that have recently been developed. - Guardian
The government's plan to digitise tax records could cost small businesses up to £3,000 extra a year, the chairman of the Treasury select committee said. Andrew Tyrie has called for a comprehensive pilot scheme to ensure that businesses are not burdened by a proposed overhaul of the tax system, which includes updating the taxman four times a year instead of once. - The Times
A boycott of Google by some of the world's largest companies will cost it more than $750 million a year, analysts have predicted. Advertising revenues from YouTube, Google's video platform, will fall this year after hundreds of brands withdrew their business in protest at the company's failure to clamp down on extremist content, according to analysts at Nomura, an investment bank. - The Times | | | | To advertise in the Euro Markets Bulletin please contact [email protected] |
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