London open: Stocks flat on 'fiscal cliff' uncertainty
Market Movers
- techMARK 2,123.97 -0.26%
- FTSE 100 5,961.13 -0.01%
- FTSE 250 12,398.46 -0.03%
The FTSE 100 was trading little changed on Thursday morning, taking a
pause after coming close to its 52-week high the day before, with US
'fiscal cliff' concerns acting as a drag on sentiment.
"In scenes reminiscent of the debt ceiling debacle of 2011 US markets slid back last night as the impasse in the fiscal cliff talks
played out along partylines, while ratings agency Fitch hinted at the
risk of a ratings cut if the current impasse continued," said market
analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets.
Fitch said yesterday
that the Eurozone crisis and US fiscal cliff threaten the sovereign
ratings on seven of the 10 largest world economies and said it would
come to a decision on the matter in 2013.
Hewson added: "The recent rally has all the hallmarks of looking a little stretched
in a classic 'buy the rumour; sell the fact' kind of way as the
deadline approaches for a solution to the fiscal cliff. This suggests
any further upside could well be limited, especially if politicians look
as if they could leave a resolution to the period between Christmas and
New Year."
Last night, the Bank of Japan added an
extra 10tn yen to the size of its asset purchase programme, a move
widely speculated following the weekend's vote to elect pro-stimulus
Shinzo Abe as the country's incoming Prime Minister.
FTSE 100: Weir in demand after acquisition
Engineering solutions group Weir
rose after announcing that it is to buy pressure control rental
equipment firm Mathena for £148m as it attempts to up its exposure to
the fast-growing shale oil and gas market.
Outsourcing giant Serco
gained after saying that it is on track to meet expectations for 2012
as it announced the sale of two operations at a loss. The firm said it
expected to deliver a year of strong total revenue growth, including
good organic growth.
Distribution and outsourcing firm Bunzl
extended losses following yesterday's pre-close trading update. JP
Morgan Cazenove and UBS both cut their targets for the stock this
morning.
Defence and aerospace group BAE Systems
rebounded this morning following yesterday's admission that it is
struggling to agree on a price for the supply of 72 Typhoon aircraft
with Saudi Arabia. The company said that if it cannot come to an
agreement, it would reduce its full-year underlying earnings per share
by around three pence per share.
FTSE 250: Lancashire and Amlin in the red
Insurance outfit Lancashire Holdings fell after estimating the impact Hurricane Sandy on the business will be in the region of $40-60m. Sector peer Amlin put its losses from the US superstorm at £145m, most of which comes from reinsurance claims.
Construction firm Balfour Beatty gained after saying its half-owned Hong Kong builder, Gammon Construction, had won a contract worth £270m.
Transport group Go-Ahead
was higher after saying that it has compensated London Midland
customers with £7m of benefits after they were disrupted by
cancellations and delays last year
.
| UK Calendar |
Thursday December 20
INTERIMS
Immofinanz AG
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
PayPoint, TEP Exchange Group, Victoria
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Royal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B', Total SA
QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Caterpillar Inc., Dow Chemical Co
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (10:00)
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
ECB Interest Rate (EU) (12:45)
Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)
GDP (Final) (US) (13:30)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)
Leading Indicators (US) (15:00)
Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)
GMS
Mothercare
SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Canadian General Investments Ltd.
EGMS
Air China Ltd., Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS
AGMS
Akers Biosciences Inc. (Reg S), GCM Resources, Gemfields, JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust, SimiGon Ltd. (DI)
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Serco Group
FULL YEAR RESULTS
Carnival Group
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Internet Retail Sales (09:30)
Retail Sales (09:30)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
GETECH Group
| Europe Market Report |
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| FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |
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Europe open: Equities waver as Capitol Hill bickers
-Equities lower on fiscal cliff worries
-Banks deposited 232.5bn euros overnight at ECB
FTSE 100: -0.02%
Dxa-30: -0.13%
Cac-40: -0.12%
FTSE Mibtel 30: -0.26%
Ibex 35: -0.26%
Stoxx 600: -0.01%
The main European equity benchmarks were registering small losses in
early trading following the seemingly less constructive rhetoric and
posturing that could be seen and heard on Capitol Hill yesterday.
That ahead of the release of a bevy of macroeconomic indicators, later in the day, Stateside.
Ericsson was lower after the mobile-phone network builder wrote down the value of its subsidiary ST-Ericsson.
UBS was falling as it surfaced that it is now facing scrutiny in Hong Kong.
French nuclear energy group Areva was down after cutting its earnings
forecast for 2013, due to delays at some clients´ renewable energy
projects.
From a sector stand-point the largest gains are to
be seen in the following industrial groups: Travel (0.56%), Basic
resources (0.52%) and Financial services (0.32%).
Weak Italian sales data for November
Italian retail sales contracted at a 1.0% month-on-month pace in October (Consensus: 0.0%).
Total Spanish housing permits rose by 5.8% month-on-month in October.
German import prices remained flat in November versus last month (Consensus: -0.2%).
German producer prices dropped by 0.1% month-on-month in November (Consensus: -0.2%).
The gauge for Dutch consumer confidence worsened to -39 points, after -37 in the month before.
Unemployment in the Netherlands increased to a 7% rate in November, after 6.8% in the month before.
Small slide in other asset classes
Front month Brent crude futures were off by 0.391 dollars to the 109.93 dollar level.
The euro/dollar was up by 0.22% to the 1.3230 mark. -Equities lower on fiscal cliff worries
-Banks deposited 232.5bn euros overnight at ECB
FTSE 100: -0.02%
Dxa-30: -0.13%
Cac-40: -0.12%
FTSE Mibtel 30: -0.26%
Ibex 35: -0.26%
Stoxx 600: -0.01%
The main European equity benchmarks were registering small losses in
early trading following the seemingly less constructive rhetoric and
posturing that could be seen and heard on Capitol Hill yesterday.
That ahead of the release of a bevy of macroeconomic indicators, later in the day, Stateside.
UBS again moving lower
Ericsson was lower after the mobile-phone network builder wrote down the value of its subsidiary ST-Ericsson.
UBS was falling as it surfaced that it is now facing scrutiny in Hong Kong.
French nuclear energy group Areva was down after cutting its earnings forecast for 2013, due to delays at some clients´ renewable energy projects.
From a sector stand-point the largest gains are to be seen in the
following industrial groups: Travel (0.56%), Basic resources (0.52%) and
Financial services (0.32%).
Weak Italian sales data for November
Italian retail sales contracted at a 1.0% month-on-month pace in October (Consensus: 0.0%).
Total Spanish housing permits rose by 5.8% month-on-month in October.
German import prices remained flat in November versus last month (Consensus: -0.2%).
German producer prices dropped by 0.1% month-on-month in November (Consensus: -0.2%).
The gauge for Dutch consumer confidence worsened to -39 points, after -37 in the month before.
Unemployment in the Netherlands increased to a 7% rate in November, after 6.8% in the month before. Small slide in other asset classes
Front month Brent crude futures were off by 0.391 dollars to the 109.93 dollar level.
The euro/dollar was up by 0.22% to the 1.3230 mark.
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