London close: Stocks fall as post-Olympic blues set in
Market Movers
- techMARK 2,111.22 -0.22%
- FTSE 100 5,831.88 -0.26%
- FTSE 250 11,436.81 -0.30%
- Global equities finish broadly lower
- GDP growth a concern in Japan and China
- Greek GDP beats expectations
Mixed news from the Eurozone and concerns over growth in Asia sent most stock markets across the globe into the red on Monday.
"As the post-Olympic blues set in,
European markets appeared to sense the weaker sentiment, with poor
volumes and a dearth of economic data resulting in a mainly sideways and
lacklustre trading session," said market strategist Brenda Kelly from
CMC Markets.
Meanwhile, trader Simon Furlong from Spreadex,
said that investors were "biding their time till tomorrow as GDP figures
in Europe and retail figures in the states come out."
The Japanese economy
grew by just 0.3% in the second quarter on the back of weak consumer
spending. Annualised gross domestic product (GDP) growth was just 1.4%
in the April-June period, well below the 5.5% growth the previous
quarter and under the 2.3% expansion expected. However, the poor data
has increased speculation that the Bank of Japan would step up with
policy easing.
China was also providing some concern on
markets today after Bank of America Merrill Lynch lowered its 2012 GDP
growth estimate for the world's second-largest nation from 8% to 7.7%.
The US investment bank is the latest in a string of brokerages to reduce
its growth forecasts for China.
In the Eurozone, Greek GDP
fell by 6.2% year-on-year in the second quarter, better than the 7.6%
contraction expected by Barclays Capital. "This looks like a better
start to the year than we expected," said the investment bank's analyst
Fabrice Montagne.
Michael Fuchs, the deputy head of Angela Merkel's CDU party, said at the weekend that Germany will block new aid to Greece
if it's not happy with the Troika's findings. "You can quote me: even
if the glass is half-full, that is not enough for a new aid
package...Germany cannot and will not agree to that," he said.
FTSE 100: Petrofac and resource stocks provide a drag
Oilfield services firm Petrofac was
leading the fallers on the Footsie despite reporting a strong first
half as investors turned cautious on the pace of growth going forward.
"Even though earnings per share beat, the market hasn't been told
anything positive it didn't already know. Some analysts are citing the
number of delayed contracts awarded in Onshore Engineering and
Construction as a reason to temper FY'13 outlook," said trader David
White from SpreadEX.
Mining peers Vedanta, Kazakhmys and Polymetal were also out of favour over concerns about the global economy. Oil giant BP was slightly lower after announcing the sale of its Sunray and Hemphill gas processing plants in Texas for $227.5m.
Heading the other way was under-fire banking group Standard Chartered
as it continues to recover from its recent sell-off. The lender is now
in talk with with New York state regulators over how much a settlement
would cost. Investec reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock today,
saying that the group's operational outlook has not been materially
impaired in spite of the issues with alleged dealings with the Iranian
government.
FTSE 250: COLT lifts telecoms higher
Telecoms group COLT
was leading the risers on the second-tier index after a bolt-on
acquisition of a UK cloud computing specialist, beefing up its presence
in the small to medium enterprises (SME) market. Sector peers TalkTalk and Cable & Wireless Communications were also performing well on Monday afternoon.
Outsourcing and energy services group MITIE
was among the fallers despite saying it has made a 'good start' to its
financial year with 87% of budgeted revenues for the year having already
been secured.
Recruitment firm Michael Page fell
after its profits took a tumble as market conditions worsened in the
second quarter; things are not looking much brighter for the second half
of the 2012 either.
FTSE 100 - Risers Schroders (SDR) 1,419.00p +0.85%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 31.64p +0.83%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 325.70p +0.74%
G4S (GFS) 264.30p +0.69%
National Grid (NG.) 692.50p +0.65%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 272.00p +0.63%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 284.20p +0.57%
BAE Systems (BA.) 316.10p +0.54%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,333.50p +0.53%
Tesco (TSCO) 329.10p +0.53%
FTSE 100 - Fallers Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,486.00p -5.17%
CRH (CRH) 1,219.00p -2.40%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 977.00p -2.01%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,110.00p -1.86%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,417.00p -1.83%
Wolseley (WOS) 2,448.00p -1.49%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,117.00p -1.41%
ICAP (IAP) 332.50p -1.39%
Amec (AMEC) 1,076.00p -1.37%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,038.00p -1.33%
FTSE 250 - Risers Heritage Oil (HOIL) 167.10p +5.89%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 119.80p +4.26%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,175.00p +3.35%
TUI Travel (TT.) 204.90p +3.22%
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 33.50p +2.95%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 184.90p +2.84%
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 16.66p +2.40%
Homeserve (HSV) 225.10p +2.32%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 84.90p +2.23%
Ruspetro (RPO) 152.00p +2.01%
FTSE 250 - Fallers Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 98.00p -4.39%
Mitie Group (MTO) 274.00p -4.13%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 501.00p -3.56%
IP Group (IPO) 137.50p -3.03%
Cookson Group (CKSN) 581.00p -3.00%
Hunting (HTG) 781.00p -2.80%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 438.10p -2.34%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,266.00p -2.31%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 37.30p -2.30%
Drax Group (DRX) 473.90p -2.15%
Europe Market Report |
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FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |
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Europe close: Stocks fall ahead of Eurozone GDP
CAC 40: 3,426 (-0.27%) FTSE MIB: 14,533 (-0.11%) IBEX 35: 7,070 (+0.31%) XETRA DAX: 6,910 (-0.50%)
European stocks mostly declined on Monday as concerns over the global
economy pressured investors to take profits ahead of the release of
Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) figures.
Annualised Japanese GDP
increased by just 1.4% in the second quarter, well below the 5.5%
growth the previous quarter and under the 2.3% expansion expected.
Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has lowered its 2012 GDP growth
estimate for China from 8% to 7.7%
Closer to home, Spanish 10-year bond yields
declined today (down 5.9 basis points at 6.848%) after a German
official downplayed the possibility of the Southern European nation
requiring a bailout.
An Italian one-year bond sale went
pretty smoothly today, as expected. The sale easily raised the 8bn
targeted, with demand 1.69 times the offer, compared to 1.55 times last
month.
Concerns about Belgium were also in focus today
as the nation's central bank governor Luc Coene admitted that the
government will likely miss its deficit target set out with the European
Union this year. Coene said that zero economic growth would translate
to a deficit of slightly more than 3% of GDP in 2012, above the initial
target of 2.8%.
Meanwhile, Greek GDP fell by 6.2%
year-on-year in the second quarter, better than the 7.6% contraction
expected by Barclays Capital. "This looks like a better start to the
year than we expected," said the investment bank's analyst Fabrice
Montagne.
COMPANIES
Germany's largest utility company E.On
saw profits more than triple in the first half of 2012, but shares fell
today after it warned that weaker demand for electric power in Europe
has weighed on capacity utilisation, prices, and operating margins for
its fossil-fuel activity.
German solar panel maker Solarworld
was friendless after it lowered full-year revenue guidance. In the
second quarter of 2012 the company made a loss of 161m on sales of
169.6m.
Over the border in Switzerland, money manager Julius Baer
was lower after saying it plans to raise 750m Swiss francs through a
rights issue to help fund the 850m franc purchase of BofA Merrill
Lynch's wealth management activities outside of the US.
Spanish bank CaixaBank
edged higher on reports that it is looking to boost revenue by
expanding in other markets (particularly North Africa and Latin America)
given the difficult market environment for Spain and European partners.
US Market Report |
US open: Profit takers emerge
Dow Jones: -66 at 13,142 S&P 500: -6 at 1,400 NASDAQ Composite: -13 at 3,007
After drifting gently lower at the outset the decline picked up pace as
the morning wore on, pushing the benchmark S and P 500 index below the
1400 level, having on Friday racked up its longest climb since December
2010.
Macro data has not been strong enough to encourage investors to continue chasing prices higher.
GDP numbers disappoint
The
Japanese economy grew by just 0.3% in the second quarter on the back of
weak consumer spending. Annualised growth was just 1.4% in the
April-June period, well below the 5.5% growth the previous quarter and
under the 2.3% expansion expected.
Greece's economy contracted
by 6.2% in the second quarter, versus expectations of a 7% fall,
leading to some pundits to suggest Greece is ready to pull out of its
tailspin.
Market approves of Google job cuts
Internet giant Google
is planning on eliminating around 4,000 jobs at its Motorola Mobility
Holdings unit, equivalent to 20 per cent of the company it acquired last
year for about $12.5bn.
Two-thirds of the cuts will take
place outside of the United States, the firm explained, saying it
expects severance-related costs of no more than $275m.
"These
changes are designed to return Motorola's mobile devices unit to
profitability," Google said in a regulatory filing and added that the
unit will place more emphasis on more innovative and profitable mobile
devices.
Oil refiner Tesoro has been shopping at BP's
garage sale, paying around $2.5bn for BP's refinery and related assets
in Carson, California. The shares are the best performers among S&P
500 constituents.
Bank of America has hardened slightly after announcing it is selling its non-US wealth management operations to Swiss operator Julius Baer.
Retailer JC Penney is off the pace after Piper Jaffray cuts its rating on the stock to "neutral" from "overweight".
Other markets
Crude
oil futures are on the slide, with the September contract for West
Texas light sweet crude down 58 cents to $92.29 a barrel.
With
equities in retreat government bonds are back in favour, though not
overwhelmingly so. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury has seen its yield
dip to 1.63% from 1.65% at Friday's close.
S&P 500 - Risers
Tesoro Corp. (TSO) $37.58 +5.86%
Sysco Corp. (SYY) $30.05 +4.20%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $53.47 +3.99%
Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) $34.36 +3.15%
CareFusion Corp. (CFN) $27.05 +2.89%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $143.50 +2.62%
Sprint Nextel Corporation (S) $5.03 +2.23%
International Paper Co. (IP) $33.61 +2.19%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $19.61 +2.08%
J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) $78.08 +1.80%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Brown Forman Corp. Class B (BF.B) $61.18 -33.62%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $20.66 -3.61%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $22.75 -2.82%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $43.68 -2.74%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $7.16 -2.52%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $31.79 -2.42%
WellPoint Inc. (WLP) $56.64 -2.19%
Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) $28.49 -2.10%
Western Union Co. (WU) $17.29 -2.04%
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $48.97 -1.91%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $7.78 +0.45%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $19.75 +0.25%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $50.19 -1.73%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.88 -1.11%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $26.65 -0.86%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $23.77 -0.69%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $53.47 +3.99%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $25.05 +2.54%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $504.80 +1.25%
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $63.45 +1.07%
Google Inc. (GOOG) $648.84 +1.07%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $44.43 +1.00%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) $22.94 -2.51%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $31.79 -2.42%
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR) $49.78 -1.85%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $100.36 -1.83%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $36.48 -1.80%
Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $17.25 -1.76%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $51.01 -1.51%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $11.47 -1.46%
Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) $143.77 -1.19%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $36.69 -1.16% |
Broker Tips |
Broker tips: Petrofac, Glaxo, ENRC
Petrofac
may have announced that it is on track to hit its full-year guidance
but Investec has maintained its 'hold' rating and 1,500p target on the
stock, saying that it is 'still worrying about the future'.
"Although 1H12 contract wins have just kept the order book on track
(only a 4% decline since December after recent awards), delays in some
contract awards to refill the core E&C [Engineering &
Construction] backlog will not now occur until 2013, making it more
difficult to maintain revenue and profits in this key division and
underpin growth forecasts for that year."
With GlaxoSmithKline's margin expansion put on hold, Jefferies has downgraded its recommendation for the stock from 'buy' to 'hold'.
"Whilst we still see double digit CORE EPS growth for GlaxoSmithKline
from 2013E-17E, visibility on margin expansion has been obscured by
over-exposure to price pressure and transfer pricing in Europe," the
broker said.
The target is reduced from 1,600p to 1,550p.
UBS says to expect a weak first half from mining group Eurasian Natural Resources Corp (ENRC), predicting earnings to tumble and debt to surge.
ENRC, which will report its results on August 15th, will report a 40%
half-on-half fall in clean earnings per share (EPS) to 38 cents, UBS
says. Meanwhile, net debt is forecasted to rise from $1bn to $3.5bn over
the half due to M&A and capital expenditure.
The broker
has cut its target for ENRC from 615p to 585p, based on a calculation of
0.8 times net present value (reflecting political risk), using a 10%
discount rate. However its 'buy' rating is maintained.
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