Footsie unchanged as another quiet day expected
Market Movers
techMARK 2,064.40 -0.10%
FTSE 100 5,783.62 -0.13%
FTSE 250 11,852.08 -0.08%
UK
stocks was broadly unchanged on Friday morning in anticipation of
another quiet day on markets with Wall Street only open for half a
session following Thanksgiving yesterday.
"European
headline shares opened tentatively today as investors remained
apprehensive towards risk-on assets in the face of an early finish to US
equity trading today as well as a weekend packed with uncertainty
regarding whether Greece will agree a lending agreement with its international lenders on Monday," said financial trader Shavaz Dhalla from Spreadex.
Dhalla said that investor’s patience is "nearing the end of its tether"
with Monday's Eurogroup meeting on Greece being the third of its kind
without an agreement. "A lack of agreement on Monday could prove ‘three
strikes are out’ for investor’s tolerance regarding Greece’s
negotiations with its international lenders," he said.
Meanwhile, trade was cautious this morning ahead of a key reading of
business confidence in Germany. The Ifo Institute's business climate
index is expected to fall from 100 in October to a near three-year low
of 99.5 in November.
A summit of European Union leaders
overnight to discuss a new seven-year budget was adjourned in the early
hours of this morning and will kick off again at 11:00.
Speaking to reporters after the first day of meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel
said that "position remains too far apart". She said: “Probably there
will be no result at the end of this summit. There may be some progress
but it is probable that we will need to meet again at a second stage.”
ENRC rises early on
Mining giant ENRC
rose after announcing that it is putting more on its Chairman's plate
in order to let its Chief Executive Officer focus more on operations,
"notably cost and operational efficiencies across the group's assets."
Sector peer Xstrata
was also higher after saying that its nickel division has completed the
construction of the first production line at the Koniambo project has
been completed, with first metal anticipated in January.
It was announced yesterday afternoon that Xstrata's merger with commodities giant Glencore has won the blessing of the European Commission.
However, Anglo American, EVRAZ and Rio Tinto were bucking the trend, registering slight losses this morning.
FTSE 250 precious metals group Hochschild Mining
was also lower this morning after saying that it now expects to get the
construction permits for its Inmaculada and Crespo projects in the
second half of 2013 following delays by the Peruvian government.
Eurasia Mining
jumped after confirming the extension of its exploration licence at
West Kytlim covering the Tylai-Kosvinsky Placer in the Urals Region of
Russia.
Utilities giant Severn Trent was lower after
voicing concerns with Ofwat's proposed water price controls in response
to a statement by the regulator this week which welcomed "constructive"
criticism.
AIM/Small Cap Report |
FTSE 100 - Risers Compass Group (CPG) 719.00p +0.70%
Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 343.00p +0.70%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 169.20p +0.65%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,233.50p +0.54%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 273.80p +0.48%
Carnival (CCL) 2,531.00p +0.40%
Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 232.90p +0.39%
Kingfisher (KGF) 277.90p +0.32%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,492.00p +0.32%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,341.00p +0.30%
FTSE 100 - Fallers Anglo American (AAL) 1,687.50p -1.00%
Melrose (MRO) 213.00p -0.93%
Evraz (EVR) 235.20p -0.89%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,228.00p -0.89%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 290.10p -0.89%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,986.00p -0.80%
CRH (CRH) 1,116.00p -0.80%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,530.00p -0.76%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,274.00p -0.66%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,560.00p -0.64%
FTSE 250 - Risers Menzies(John) (MNZS) 604.50p +1.77%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 520.00p +1.36%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 202.30p +1.25%
Regus (RGU) 97.15p +1.20%
Ruspetro (RPO) 85.00p +1.19%
Halma (HLMA) 434.60p +1.12%
Cobham (COB) 204.60p +1.04%
Britvic (BVIC) 404.05p +1.01%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 772.50p +0.98%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 270.20p +0.90%
FTSE 250 - Fallers Hochschild Mining (HOC) 469.30p -3.69%
Savills (SVS) 424.00p -3.20%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 97.20p -2.75%
RPC Group (RPC) 415.70p -2.67%
Lonmin (LMI) 293.00p -2.04%
Laird (LRD) 221.80p -1.81%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 456.90p -1.32%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 353.40p -1.31%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 76.00p -1.30%
Perform Group (PER) 400.00p -1.23%
European broker round-up |
|
FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |
| | | |
|
EU fails to reach agreement on budget, progress on Greece
FTSE-100: -0.07%
Dax-30: -0.18%
Cac-40: -0.34%
FTSE Mibtel 30: -0.44%
Ibex 35: -0.34%
Stoxx 600: -0.13%
“Positions remain too far apart,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel was
reported to have said last night after the first session of the EU heads
of States summit in Brussels whose aim is to thrash out a new long-term
budget, for the period running from 2014 and 2020. She added that while
some progress might be achieved at the current gathering there may need
to be further meetings down the road before an agreement is reached.
For his part, the President of the EU Council, Herrmann Van Rompuy,
emphasised that this is a long-term budget such that austerity must be
balanced against the need to plan out all the way to the end of the
current decade.
The assembled leaders were to continue their meetings throughout Friday.
As regards Greece, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is now willing
to accept that the country's debt load would be sustainable if it falls
to 124% of GDP by 2020, instead of the earlier target of 120% which it
had been holding out for, a Greek official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Even so, European leaders have yet to fill a 10bn euro gap before the
IMF is willing to release the next tranche of aid for the Mediterranean
country.
EADS off
Shares of EADS
were falling by over 2% in the early going. The German government will
purchase shares in the pan-European aeronautics behemoth from France,
German daily Handelsblatt reported, citing unidentified German government sources.
Analysts at Berenberg Bank downgraded their recommendation on shares of Danone to sell from hold.
The best performers on the DJ Stoxx 600 were the following: Retail (0.26%), Insurance (0.13%) and Food&Beverage (0.12%).
Investors waiting on latest IFO reading
Germany
gross domestic product grew at a 0.2% quarter-on-quarter pace in the
third quarter, as expected. While investment in machinery and
inventories weighted on GDP private consumption and net exports served
to propel economic activity forward.
French statistics
institute INSEE’s business confidence index for the month of November
came in at 87 points, versus 85 in October (Consensus: 86).
The German IFO business confidence index for the month of November will be released at 09:00.
Single currency little changed
The euro/dollar was rising by 0.05% to the 1.2883 dollar mark.
Front month Brent crude futures were down by 0.054 dollars to the 110.49 dollar level on the ICE.
UK Event Calendar
INTERIMS
Max Property Group, Picton Property Income Ltd, Sweett Group
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Bovis Homes Group, Harvey Nash Group, Menzies(John), Octopus VCT , RSA
Insurance Group, Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust, Ted Baker, Walker
Greenbank
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Gross Domestic Product (GER) (07:00)
IFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00)
IFO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00)
IFO Expectations (GER) (09:00)
GMS
Nexus Management
ANNUAL REPORT
Croma Security Solutions Group
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies Inv Trust
EGMS
KT Corp. ADR
AGMS
Draganfly Investments Ltd., Hargreaves Lansdown, Hargreaves Services, Petmin Ltd. (DI), Rialto Energy Ltd (DI)
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
BBA Mortgage Lending Figures (09:30)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Abcam, Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Dechra
Pharmaceuticals, El Oro Ltd, Genus, Mcbride, Murgitroyd Group, Smiths
Group
US Market Report |
There is no US closing report today due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
FX round-up: Euro makes strong gains
The euro made
strong gains on Thursday, rising most notably against the Japanese yen
as the global economic outlook strengthed on the back of positive data
out from China.
The single currency was trading as high as ¥106.57 at one point, the highest exchange seen since late April.
HSBC's
preliminary China manufacturing data showed November manufacturing
activity in China accelerated in November for the first time in over a
year. The flash Chinese purchasing managers’ index for October rose to
50.4 from 49.5 the previous month. A figure above 50 indicates expansion
and a figure below 50 indicates a contraction.
Meanwhile, the euro swapped hands at $1.2886, up from $1.2826 the previous day.
The ICE dollar
index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major
currencies, dropped from 80.937 on Wednesday to 80.704 last night.
The British pound dropped to buy $1.5937 last night, compared to $1.5942 the previous evening.
Commodities: Oil futures slip on cease-fire deal
Crude oil futures
slipped on Thursday after a temporary cease-fire was agreed between
Israel and Hamas, reducing the risk of supply problems in the Middle
East region.
The commodity closed down 0.3% at $87.12 per barrel on the NYMEX, having hit a high of $87.83 earlier in the day.
Also
providing support to the commodity was the news that HSBC's preliminary
China manufacturing data showed November manufacturing activity in
China accelerated in November for the first time in over a year. The
flash Chinese purchasing managers’ index for October rose to 50.4 from
49.5 the previous month. A figure above 50 indicates expansion and a
figure below 50 indicates a contraction.
NYMEX floor trading was closed on Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.
Meanwhile, the December contract for natural gas futures climbed 0.26% to settle at $3.91, while heating oil dropped 0.24% to $3.06.
Gold was also boosted by the Chinese data, rising 0.08% to settle at $1,729.50 per ounce.
|
Friday newspaper round-up |
EU summit, UBS, RBS branch sale...
European leaders
voiced pessimism on Friday on reaching a deal on a trillion-euro EU
budget, as gruelling talks pushed into a second day with little prospect
of bridging bitter divisions. The summit talks in Brussels were
suspended overnight after less than an hour and a half, having already
begun hours late on Thursday due to the vast differences on the need for
cuts between the bloc's have and have-not nations. The negotiations
were scheduled to resume at 11.00 on Friday once delegates from the 27
member nations have had time to examine new proposals on the 2014-2020
budget submitted by EU president Herman Van Rompuy. [ The Telegraph]
UBS will have to pay one of the largest fines ever imposed by the UK’s
financial regulator for management failures that led to the Swiss bank’s
$2.3bn rogue trading loss, according to people familiar with the
negotiations. The Financial Services Authority and UBS are finalising
the details of a settlement penalty that will probably be between £20m
and £50m, with a joint announcement expected as soon as next week.
Switzerland’s financial regulator, Finma, does not have the power to
levy fines and will instead force UBS to accept strict new supervisory
measures. [ The Financial Times]
The former chairman of Standard Chartered could return to banking through the 316-branch division being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland.
Corsair Capital, the private equity firm where Lord Davies of Abersoch
is a partner and vice-chairman, has expressed interest in thebusiness .
It is unclear whether the Welsh banker, who is a former Trade Minister
and conducted a government review of the number of women on company
boards, would take on a direct role in running the business. Lord
Davies, who this week was named chairman of Chime Communications, did not comment yesterday. [ The Times]
Deloitte faced more questions over its relationship with the software
firm at the eye of a storm over alleged "accounting improprieties"
yesterday, as a shareholder adviser said it had repeatedly raised
concerns over the fees racked up by the auditor for other work. PIRC,
which advises pension funds investing £1.5trn in total, said that Autonomy had "raised a number of red flags" regarding corporate governance. Hewlett-Packard
bought the Cambridge-based firm for $10.3bn (£6.5bn) last year, but the
US giant wrote off $8.8bn on Tuesday, accusing its former management of
inflating the value of the firm and a "wilful" effort to mislead.[ The Independent]
Business Secretary Vince Cable
pledged yesterday that the government would take a “greater interest”
in take-overs of UK companies and also fight the City’s “quick buck
mentality”. Endorsing Professor John Kay’s independent review of UK
equity markets, Cable said the coalition was also working to scrap
companies’ quarterly reporting that he said encouraged greater focus on
short-term returns than long-term value. “Many of us feel that, in the
past, our public companies and investors have focused on short-term
profit at the expense of long-term value,” Cable said. “The behaviour of
many banks in the run-up to the financial crisis is an extreme example
of this quick buck mentality, but there is a wider problem." [ The Scotsman]
Communications giant Virgin Media
was involved in a row over trade union recognition on Thursday after
ending collective bargaining deals following a vote by employees. The
Communication Workers Union (CWU) accused the firm of "stealing" trade
union recognition from its staff after a referendum showed 52% in favour
of the company's position. [ The Guardian]
Energy firms
will be allowed to triple the amount of money they add to customers'
bills to pay for renewable power, nuclear and other environmental
measures, under plans to be announced by the government next week. The
deal over a new energy bill, struck after weeks of sometimes bitter
negotiations between the coalition partners, will mean the total amount
energy suppliers can add to domestic and business bills will rise from
£2.35bn this year to nearly £10bn at the end of this decade. Adjusting
for inflation that would be worth £7.6bn in today's prices, an increase
of nearly three times. [ The Guardian]
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment