FTSE 100 Live: Stocks to inch higher before high-stakes Spring Budget - Proactive Investors UK

• lead index up 12 points to 7,659
• Hunt prepareds Spring Budget
• Bitcoin off all-time highs

8.32am: William Hill owner mulling sale of US business

William Hill owner 888 Holdings PLC (LSE:888) is exploring the sale of the company’s US business-to-consumer wing as part of a wider strategic review.

Gross profit margins of the business, which operates in Michigan, Colorado, Virginia and New Jersey, are slimmer than the wider group's profile, while market access and licence fees are causing “significant direct costs” from operating in the market.

“In the US, the intensity of competition and requirement for scale means huge investment is required to reach profitability,” chief executive Per Widerström commented.

Shares were pushed 3.3% higher to 85.65 on the news.

8.23am: Bitcoin retreats from ATH

Bitcoin (BTC) fell back sharply on Tuesday after briefly touching the $69,000 all-time high.

By the midnight bell, the BTC/USD pair had slipped to nearly 7% to close at $63,700.

Bitcoin bulls appear to be having another punt again though, with the pair rallying 5.8% to $67,400 at the time of writing.

Bitcoin’s remarkable 52% rally year to date is largely the result of the flurry of spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds approved for trading on the US markets in January.

Back to UK stocks, the FTSE 100 lead index is up 15 points to 7,661 as the market awaits Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget.

8.15am: Quick US recap

The Nasdaq closed 1.7% lower on Tuesday at 15,939 points as investors pulled back on tech stocks, specifically Apple and Tesla.

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, ETR:FB2A, SWX:FB) closed 1.6% lower after sweeping outages hit Facebook and Instagram.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 both finished the day 1% lower at 38,585 and 5,078 points respectively.

US JOLTs job openings are due today at 4pm UK time, with 8.9 million new ads expected for the January print, down from over nine million in December.

Back in the UK, the FTSE 100 added 12 points to 7,659 in opening exchanges.

7.49am: DS Smith silent on Mondi bid

FTSE 100 packaging business DS Smith gave us a bare-bones trading update this morning.

It stated that like-for-like corrugated box volume performance “continues to improve compared with the first half of our financial year, with flat like-for-like volumes in the period since 1 November 2023”.

Chief executive Miles Roberts said: "I am pleased with a continuing resilient performance, despite tough economic conditions.

“Our strong customer relationships, quality and service has led to a number of recent FMCG customer contract wins, underpinning our confidence in the outlook for volume growth going forward.

“While markets remain challenging, we continue to focus on providing value-added solutions to our customers and on driving operational efficiency and cost control across the Group and view the future with confidence."

There was no word on the ongoing merger discussion with Mondi PLC (LSE:MNDI) after the latter sweetened the deal on the first of this month.

DS Smith shares opened 1% higher on Wednesday, while the FTSE 100 index opened flat at 7,644.

7.37am: L&G hits divi target

Matching expectations, insurance big cap Legal & General declared a full-year dividend per share of 20.34p, marking a 5% increase from the previous year.

Today’s full-year results underscored increased pension-based operating profits by 10% in 2023 to generate £886 million in a year that saw record appetite for de-risking among legacy pension providers.

L&G announced a firm-wide operating profit of £1.67 billion for 2023, basically flat from £1.66 billion in 2022, while profit before tax nearly halved to £561 million.

This was attributed to “unrealised mark-to-market impact of higher rates on asset valuations, the cost relating to our announced Modular Homes closure and the write-down of our investment in Onto”.

7.13am: FTSE 100 to open higher

The FTSE 100 should open slightly higher this Wednesday in a trading session that brings up Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s (probably) last Budget before the next general election.

National Insurance contributions are expected to be lowered with income left unchanged, while a raft of manufacturing incentives, technology reforms, artificial intelligence spending and stamp duty cuts are in the pipeline.

Hunt is scheduled to speak at 12.30pm.

Insurance and asset-management large cap Legal & General Group PLC (LSE:LGEN) will publish its full-year results today, with pension risk transfers (PRTs) top of the attention pile.

As for the all-important dividends, L&G has guided 5% per-year dividend growth until full year 2024. 

Year-end results Capital plc, interims for Galliford Try Holdings PLC (LSE:GFRD) and a trading update from DS Smith are also due.

In the cryptocurrency markets, bitcoin bulls will be hoping to regain the all-time high after briefly touching it yesterday.

FTSE futures have the lead index opening 11 points higher at 7,657 after closing slightly higher on Tuesday.

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2024-03-06 07:12:00Z
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