London close: Miners hit as no sign of gear-change in China
Market Movers
- techMARK 2,136.85 -0.08%
- FTSE 100 5,838.84 -0.24%
- FTSE 250 11,903.11 -0.39%
After reaching a nadir at midday, equities pared losses in the
afternoon session, with defensive stocks enjoying a bit of support.
The morning had been characterised by gloom over China's economy and
differences of opinion among the heavy hitters in the Eurozone.
Chinese central-bank advisor Song Guoqing comceded over the week-end
that there are precious few signs of the Chinese economy recovering its
mojo in the third quarter.
Sur le continent, investor
sentiment was knocked by renewed concerns over the single currency
region following France and Germany's failure to agree a schedule for
initiating shared oversight of the region's banking sector.
Economic data from Germany further soured sentiment. Germany's IFO
business climate indicator fell to 101.4 points in September, down from
102.3 in the previous month and the 102.5 expected by the market
consensus. The business climate gauge has declined for a fifth
consecutive month according to data from the IFO Institute in Munich.
Undermined
Miners
led the fallers in the wake of the comments about the Chinese economy.
Analysts at JP Morgan advised its clients to take profits in the sector
because stalling economic growth in the US and more significantly in
China, are expected to offset the US Fed´s third round of asset
purchases. Furthermore, JP Morgan analysts have specifically recommended
avoiding shares of Khazakmys and Anglo American. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch seemed to be coming round to JP Morgan's view, at least so far as shares of Anglo American are concerned, as they downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy".
Mining giant Bumi
was also weighing on the sector after it said it was investigating
allegations of financial and other irregularities at its Indonesian
operations. The investigation centres on PT Bumi Resources, in which the
company has a 29% interest, with particular focus on that firm's
development funds.
"The extensive development funds in PT Bumi
Resources Tbk and the one development asset in PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk
were marked down to zero in the accounts of Bumi plc as at December
31st 2011, except for one investment with a carrying value of $39m in
the consolidated financial statements," the statement said.
While Bumi was gloomy, Petra Diamonds
shone brightly after a trading update. The company offered reassurance
on the recent unrest in the South African mining sector, which has seen
workers killed and a number of mines closed.
"With regards to
Petra, it is important to note that the majority of the group's
employees are skilled and semi-skilled workers, as block cave mining is a
highly mechanised process," it said.
"Petra has a strong
track record of stable labour relations and has not over recent months
experienced any disturbances related to employee unrest or external
intimidation of employees."
Fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management
saw its assets under management (AuM) edge up in the first two months
of the second half of the year. AuM at the end of August stood at
£184.3bn, up from £182.7bn at the end of June. Gross new business during
July and August totalled £6.1bn, but overall the group saw a net
outflow of £0.1bn.
Aberdeen's much smaller sector peer MAM Funds
saw assets under management grow for the third quarter in a row and
said the second half of the year had started well. AuM reached £1.72bn
at the end of June, up 3.5% from £1.67bn at the end of December.
Elsewhere in the financial sector, taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland
(RBS) unveiled plans to cut an extra 300 jobs at its investment bank.
RBS now aims to cut 3,800 roles at its investment banking arm by the end
of 2013, 300 more than previously anticipated. The lion's share of
those jobs, 3,000, will be gone by the end of this year.
Defence firm QinetiQ
started the day with a bang as it aid its first half performance had
been better than expected on the back of the majority of two key orders
for the Q-Net vehicle survivability product beingdelivered earlier than
originally planned.
Dairy products firm Dairy Crest
warned of lower first half profits, as challenging conditions continue,
but said profit expectations for the full year ending March 31st 2013
remain unchanged.
Profit before tax and exceptional items
slipped to £14.9m in the six months ended July 28th, from £16.2m in the
corresponding period of last year at Irn-Bru maker AG Barr. The
company took a £1m hit from adverse currency movements, although around
£0.6m of this is expected to unwind in the second half of the year. On a
constant currency basis, first half profit before tax was £0.3m behind
the similar period in the prior year. Sales in the first seven weeks of
the second half have shown double digit percentage growth.
Other markets
The price of oil has south at a rate of knots, with the most actively
trade futures contract for Brent crude off $2.42 at $109.00 a barrel.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt is 1.81%, down from 1.84% earlier this morning.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Shire Plc (SHP) 1,845.00p +1.71%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,638.00p +1.08%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 693.00p +1.02%
Compass Group (CPG) 711.50p +0.99%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 347.80p +0.84%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 738.50p +0.75%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,962.50p +0.70%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 727.00p +0.69%
BT Group (BT.A) 233.50p +0.65%
BG Group (BG.) 1,253.50p +0.60%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 330.60p -4.03%
Evraz (EVR) 261.50p -3.82%
GKN (GKN) 218.90p -3.14%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,056.00p -2.76%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,887.50p -2.61%
Sage Group (SGE) 317.10p -2.37%
Glencore International (GLEN) 354.15p -2.17%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 714.00p -2.06%
ITV (ITV) 88.10p -2.06%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,980.00p -2.01%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 118.00p +7.57%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 182.90p +6.46%
Computacenter (CCC) 377.40p +2.78%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 274.30p +2.58%
Diploma (DPLM) 467.90p +2.23%
SIG (SHI) 104.70p +2.05%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 459.90p +1.97%
Pace (PIC) 168.30p +1.85%
Shanks Group (SKS) 90.15p +1.75%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 116.50p +1.75%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Bumi (BUMI) 147.60p -24.66%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 157.60p -4.25%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 91.80p -4.08%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 512.50p -3.57%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 424.30p -3.48%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 662.00p -3.36%
Bodycote (BOY) 388.60p -2.85%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,055.00p -2.77%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,316.00p -2.73%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 283.50p -2.64%
FTSE TechMARK - Risers
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 17.50p +6.06%
Antisoma (ASM) 1.69p +4.64%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 2.46p +2.07%
FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
E2V Technologies (E2V) 130.25p -4.05%
Filtronic (FTC) 41.50p -4.05%
Ricardo (RCDO) 378.25p -3.26%
Vislink (VLK) 30.50p -3.17%
Promethean World (PRW) 23.25p -3.12%
Skyepharma (SKP) 97.75p -2.74%
Xaar (XAR) 242.50p -2.22%
Europe Market Report |
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FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |
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The Swiss Stock Market Pulled Back Monday On Growth Concerns
The Swiss stock market
lost ground at the beginning of the new trading week, as investors took
profits. The market was under pressure in early trade, after the
disappointing German Ifo business sentiment report. The difference of
opinion between Germany and France over banking regulation and ongoing
concerns about Chinese growth also had a negative impact.
Growth concerns in China were triggered again after Song Guoqing,
an academic adviser to the People's Bank of China, said he saw no signs
of a rebound in the third quarter and domestic investment is unlikely
to expand dramatically in the short term.
The Swiss Market Index fell by 0.13 percent Monday and finished at 6,597.22. The Swiss Leader Index declined by 0.32 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.16 percent.
Shares of cyclicals stocks were under pressure Monday. Lonza led the way, with a loss of 2.4 percent and Schindler fell by 1.6 percent. Geberit decreased by 1.3 percent and Adecco lost 1.2 percent.
Financial stocks also finished in negative territory at the start of the new trading week. Credit Suisse declined by 2.0 percent and UBS fell by 1.1 percent. Swiss Life was the largest decliner among the insurers, with a loss of 2.1 percent.
US Market Report |
US open: Apple leads stocks lower
-Apple off 2% after iPhone 5 sales estimates
Dow Jones Industrial: -0.33%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.73%
S&P 500: -0.44%
The major US equity benchmarks have opened lower by 0.5% on average.
That on the back of a rather weak news-flow out of the Eurozone over the weekend.
Of interest, some market commentary is today calling attention to the
poor performance year-to-date in the Dow Jones Transportation average as
a precursor to weakness in financial markets.
This ahead of
what traditionally are two very weak months for stocks before seasonal
strength kicks in during the run-up to the year´s end.
With
somewhat less negative implications perhaps, income at oil and gas
producers will fall by 24% in the three months ending in September, the
largest decline in three years, according to more than 1,200 analyst
estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Excluding the retreat, earnings
in the benchmark gauge for US stocks would climb 2.5%, the 12th straight
increase, amid gains for banks and computer makers, the data shows.
Back on the company front, Apple
is down 2% after saying that it sold more than 5 million of its iPhone
5s in 3 days. That number is approximately half of what was expected by
some analysts.
Micron Technologies has been downgraded by analysts at Pacific Crest Securities to sector perform.
Red Hat´s chief executive officer is looking to make acquisitions in the "cloud space," the news agency is reporting today.
Crude futures falling on economic doubts
Front month West Texas crude futures are now down by 1.53% to the 91.47 dollar per barrel level on the NYMEX.
10 year US Treasuries are now gaining by 8/32 dollars, with yields at 1.78%. |
Broker Tips |
Monday broker round-up:
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