- FTSE 100 down 15 points
- Royal Mail rises after £400mln shareholder return
- Mining shares under pressure
9.18am: Housebuilders in demand
A positive update from housebuilder Crest Nicholson (LSE:CRST) - which said demand for properties remained high - has boosted the whole sector.
Crest has climbed 2.52%, while Taylor Wimpey PLC (LSE:TW.) is up 2.39%, Persimmon PLC (LSE:PSN) has put on 1.9% and Barratt Developments PLC (LSE:BDEV) has built up a 1.88% rise.
But this is not enough to pull the leading index into positive territory.
The FTSE 100 is currently down 15.98 points or 0.22% at 7275.22.
8.33am: Commodity companies under pressure
Reports that China and the US might release some of their strategic oil reserves to help ease the pain of rising crude prices has had some effect.
Brent crude is down 1.08% to US$79.41 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate is 1.53% lower at US$77.16.
So BP PLC (LSE:BP.) has fallen 1.46% while Royal Dutch Shell PLC (A shares) (LSE:RDSA) is down 1.61%.
Metal prices including copper are also lower, helping push down mining companies.
Antofagasta PLC (LSE:ANTO) is the biggest FTSE 100 faller, down 2.31%, while Rio Tinto PLC (LSE:RIO) has lost 2.03% and Anglo American PLC (LSE:AAL) has dropped 1.77%.
Elsewhere GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LSE:GSK) has lost 2.07% - the pharmaceuticals giant is one of a number of companies to go ex-dividend.
But even so the leading index is off its worst levels, now down 11.13 points or 0.15% at 7280.07.
8.18am: Investors remain cautious about economic outlook
It is indeed a downbeat start to the day with leading shares heading lower again.
The FTSE 100 has fallen 22.09 points or 0.3% to 7269.07 as investors continue to worry about pricing pressures and interest rate rises.
The pound has added 0.1335% to US$1.3506 as the likelihood of the Bank of England acting on rates in December increased after the surge in inflation in October.
In turn, the strength of the pound is undermining the the major overseas earners in the leading index.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: "When some 70% of [the FTSE 100's] constituents’ earnings are derived from overseas, strength in sterling isn’t that helpful."
But Royal Mail PLC (LSE:RMG) has bucked the trend, rising 6.46% to 466.3p to become the leading riser in the blue chip index.
Half year revenues rose 7.1% to just over £6bn while operating profits of £404mln was a little above September's guidance of between £395mln and £400mln.
And shareholders had more good news in terms of a £200mln share buyback and £200mln special dividend.
Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK said: "This is exactly the sort of special delivery that shareholders tend to welcome. This would be alongside the interim dividend of 6.7p per share, payable on 12th January 2022."
Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, said: "Royal Mail has been another beneficiary of enforced strategic acceleration resulting from the pandemic. It is currently skilfully spinning a number of plates as it continues to transform, and the share price has reflected this progress, having risen by 55% over the last year as compared to a gain of 14% for the wider FTSE 100.
"It would therefore be with some irony that, at current levels, the company is on the cusp of relegation at next month’s FTSE100 reshuffle as a result of recent share price weakness which has seen a dip of 16% over the last six months. However, bulls of the Royal Mail story are not to be deterred, with the market consensus of the shares as a buy remaining defiantly intact.”
6.50am: Leading shares set to slip again at open
FTSE 100 was tipped to start on the back foot again after yesterday’s jump in UK inflation to a ten year high.
Financial spread betters were calling the blue-chip index to open around six points down from Wednesday’s close of 7.291 (down 36) a couple of hours before trading started.
Rising inflation is likely to mean interest rates rise sooner rather than later but after being led a merry dance by the Bank of England earlier this month, economists were hedging their bets whether an increase would be at its next meeting on 16 December or later.
Today is likely to be another uncomfortable one for prime minister Boris Johnson after his mea culpa over the Owen Paterson standards fiasco yesterday.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is expected to announce the HS2 extension to Leeds will be scrapped, a move likely to spark a wave of criticism from Tory MPs in the northeast part of the government’s ‘red wall’.
Some £96bn of investment in the rail infrastructure elsewhere in the north is expected to replace the HS2 extension.
Royal Mail’s interims will also be watched to see if last year’s parcel boom really was a one-off.
Elsewhere, Asian markets were generally lower as coronavirus cases continue to rise even though beleaguered Hong Kong property group Evergrande has seemingly bought itself some time with the sale of its stake in streaming service HengTen for US$274mln.
The Nikkei 225 came off its worst levels on reports that Japan’s latest fiscal stimulus package would be 55.7trn yen, or around US$484bn. This is on top of the 80trn yen spent since the beginning of 2020
All of the three main US markets closed lower.
6.50am: Early Markets - Asia / Australia
Asia-Pacific shares were mostly lower on Thursday following overnight losses on Wall Street.
Some of the tech majors listed on Hong Kong’s Nasdaq-style technology board Hang Seng tech index, including Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, declined sharply.
China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.35% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped 1.35%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.30% and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.34%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX200 was an outlier, rising 0.13% to close at 7,379.20 points even as energy stocks remained under pressure amid a sell-off in crude futures.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMirgFodHRwczovL3d3dy5wcm9hY3RpdmVpbnZlc3RvcnMuY28udWsvY29tcGFuaWVzL25ld3MvOTY2NjM1L2Z0c2UtMTAwLWluLXRoZS1yZWQtYXMtaW5mbGF0aW9uLWZlYXJzLWRvbWluYXRlLWJ1dC1yb3lhbC1tYWlsLXJpc2VzLWFmdGVyLWJ1eWJhY2stYW5kLXNwZWNpYWwtZGl2aWRlbmQtOTY2NjM1Lmh0bWzSAT5odHRwczovL3d3dy5wcm9hY3RpdmVpbnZlc3RvcnMuY28udWsvY29tcGFuaWVzL2FtcC9uZXdzLzk2NjYzNQ?oc=5
2021-11-18 08:18:00Z
CBMirgFodHRwczovL3d3dy5wcm9hY3RpdmVpbnZlc3RvcnMuY28udWsvY29tcGFuaWVzL25ld3MvOTY2NjM1L2Z0c2UtMTAwLWluLXRoZS1yZWQtYXMtaW5mbGF0aW9uLWZlYXJzLWRvbWluYXRlLWJ1dC1yb3lhbC1tYWlsLXJpc2VzLWFmdGVyLWJ1eWJhY2stYW5kLXNwZWNpYWwtZGl2aWRlbmQtOTY2NjM1Lmh0bWzSAT5odHRwczovL3d3dy5wcm9hY3RpdmVpbnZlc3RvcnMuY28udWsvY29tcGFuaWVzL2FtcC9uZXdzLzk2NjYzNQ
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