(Alliance News) - Trade was lacklustre on Monday, with London stocks moving cautiously higher as markets await meetings from the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England later in the week.The FTSE 100 managed to inch into the green despite airlines being knocked following a profit warning from German flag carrier Lufthansa, and the FTSE 250 overcame sharp losses for Kier to also finish in positive territory.The FTSE 100 index closed up 11.53 points, or 0.2%, at 7,357.31. The FTSE 250 ended up 39.27 points, or 0.2%, at 19,157.61, and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.25 points at 937.46.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.2% at 12,487.12, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.2% at 17,177.66, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.2% at 11,647.43.In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.4%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt closed down 0.1%."Monday was a day to forget trading-wise, investors firmly focused on the central bank-dominated second half of the week," said Connor Campbell at Spreadex. "It is understandable that traders might be a bit reticent to show their hand this early on, given the uncertainty surrounding the Fed's meeting on Wednesday evening," continued Campbell. "With Jerome Powell and his FOMC peers creating a dovish din in the last couple of months, there is the expectation that the central bank will slash rates sooner rather than later. The big question is whether it will tee up a July rate cut or something a bit further down the line."Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.2%, the S&P 500 index up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.8%. While stocks were lacking serious upwards momentum, the pound had "another miserable session", said Campbell, as the Conservative party leadership contest rumbles on.Tory leadership hopefuls Rory Stewart and Sajid Javid believe they have the required number of supporters to survive Tuesday's second round of voting.Stewart managed to secure just 19 votes in the first ballot and Javid had 23 - both short of the 33 required to stay in the race after the second vote. They are a long way short of frontrunner Boris Johnson, who picked up 114 votes last week and has since been boosted by the support of former leadership contender Matt Hancock.Former foreign secretary Johnson did not appear at the hustings event for political journalists and was notably absent from the first TV debate on Channel 4 on Sunday.The pound was quoted at USD1.2559 at the London equities close Monday, down from USD1.2604 at the close on Friday.Meanwhile, the euro stood at USD1.1233 at the European equities close Monday, against USD1.1222 at the same time on Friday.In an interview with the Financial Times, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said that the performance of the bloc's economy is not too bad, but signals from financial markets, especially from bonds, were "quite alarming.""So, if the conclusion were that cutting rates is the best option, then we would have to consider the impact of negative rates on financial intermediation, especially for banks," he said, adding that: "We would have to consider whether a tiering system is needed."In commodities, Brent oil was quoted at USD61.66 a barrel at the London equities close Monday from USD62.00 late Friday.Gold, meanwhile, was quoted at USD1,340.19 an ounce at the London equities close Monday against USD1,349.52 at the close on Friday.In London, Rolls-Royce Holdings closed up 2.0% after noting that Virgin Atlantic will introduce 14 new A330neo aircraft from Airbus SE into its fleet, which will all be powered by the jet engine maker's Trent 7000 engine."This fleet expansion is another great endorsement of both the A330neo and Trent 7000, our very latest version of the Trent. We are deeply grateful for the trust that Virgin Atlantic has placed in us - soon their entire fleet will be powered by Rolls-Royce," said Civil Aerospace President Chris Cholerton.Royal Bank of Scotland gained 1.4% after it said the completion of a merger between two Saudi Arabia based banks will lead to a GBP700 million gain.Saudi British Bank in October 2018 finalised an agreement to buy Alawwal Bank for USD5 billion, creating the kingdom's third-largest lender with USD71 billion in assets.RBS, through its Dutch-domiciled investment bank NatWest Markets, was part of a consortium that held an aggregate 40% equity stake in Alawwal bank. The interest of RBS was equivalent to a 15.3% shareholding in Alawwal bank.In total, RBS will record a GBP700 million profit attributable to shareholders as a result of the Saudi bank combination.At the opposite end of the FTSE 100 were airlines, knocked in a negative read-across after a profit warning from German flag carrier Lufthansa. Lufthansa, which shed 12% in Frankfurt, blamed "price deterioration in Europe" caused by market-wide overcapacity and "aggressively growing low cost competitors".The German airline said it now expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of EUR2.0 billion to EUR2.4 billion in 2019, on the basis of low-single-digit revenue growth. In 2018, Lufthansa reported adjusted Ebit of EUR2.8 billion, which in turn was down from EUR3.0 billion in 2017.Following this disappointing update from the German flag carrier, budget airline easyJet ended down 4.1% and British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines down 2.3%. Ryanair shares sank 4.3%.British American Tobacco dipped 1.3% after Morgan Stanley cut the Lucky Strike cigarette maker to Underweight from Equal Weight, with peer Imperial Brands suffering in a negative read-across, closing down 0.9%.Power firm SSE ended down 1.1% after Macquarie started the stock with a Neutral recommendation.Among FTSE 250 stocks, retail property investor Hammerson closed up 2.7% after Peel Hunt raised the owner of Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre to Add from Hold.Babcock International gained 1.8% after confirming it rejected a takeover approach from outsourcing peer Serco Group in January.The proposal was unsolicited and "highly preliminary", Babcock said, and involved an all-share merger. No further proposal has been received since January.Serco shares closed up 0.5%.Tumbling to the bottom of the index was Kier Group, which slumped 18% after suspending its dividend and putting several businesses up for sale in order to control debt.The construction company has put Kier Living, its housebuilding business, up for sale as well as Kier Property. Kier also will be quitting the Management and Environmental Services businesses.Further, Kier has suspended dividend payments for its year ending June, and the following financial year. This comes after Kier slashed its first half dividend 79% to 4.9 pence a share.Amigo Holdings slid 9.2% after Shore Capital downgraded the guarantor loans firm to Sell from Hold.On AIM, Staffline dived 44% as it skipped its annual dividend and set out plans for a GBP30 million share placing, as well as almost doubling its provision for liabilities associated with minimum wage regulations.Staffline has made a final update to its national minimum wage compliance liabilities, raising the total amount to GBP15.1 million from GBP7.9 million including GBP500,000 of adviser costs, all of which is expected to be a cash cost in 2019.In a bid to reduce its leverage at the end of 2019, Staffline is planning a GBP30 million share placing in order to cut its ratio of net debt to underlying earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation, and amortisation to below two times.Staffline said it will not be recommending a final dividend for 2018 but did reiterate its guidance for an underlying 2018 performance "in line with expectations". Staffline has yet to publish its 2018 results due to an extensive audit but now expects to do next week.In the UK corporate calendar on Tuesday, there are annual results from equipment rental firm Ashtead Group and utility firm Telecom Plus. In the economic calendar on Tuesday, German producer prices are at 0700 BST followed by the ZEW economist sentiment survey at 1000 BST. The eurozone trade balance and consumer prices are at also 1000 BST.In the US, housing starts are at 1330 BST followed by the Redbook index at 1355 BST. In addition, the Federal Open Market Committee's two-day meeting kicks off on Tuesday, and concludes on Wednesday when the US central bank's latest interest rate decision will be announced.By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.comLondon Close is available to subscribers as an email newsletter. Contact info@alliancenews.com
UK dividends calendar - next 7 days
Friday 26 January | |
abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Auto Trader Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Big Yellow Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Burberry Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Caledonia Mining Corp PLC | dividend payment date |
Character Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Cranswick PLC | dividend payment date |
Foresight Group Holdings Ltd | dividend payment date |
Henderson High Income Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
IntegraFin Holdings PLC | dividend payment date |
International Biotechnology Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Iomart Group PLC | dividend payment date |
James Latham PLC | dividend payment date |
JPMorgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Marble Point Loan Financing Ltd | dividend payment date |
Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Montanaro European Smaller Cos Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Schroder Income Growth Fund PLC | dividend payment date |
Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Ultimate Products PLC | dividend payment date |
Value & Indexed Property Income Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Walker Crips Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Monday 29 January | |
J Smart & Co (Contractors) PLC | dividend payment date |
Mondi PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Tuesday 30 January | |
no events scheduled | |
Wednesday 31 January | |
Albion Venture Capital Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Amedeo Air Four Plus Ltd | dividend payment date |
Artemis Alpha Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Balanced Commercial Property Trust Ltd | dividend payment date |
CT Private Equity Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Doric Nimrod Air Three Ltd | dividend payment date |
Doric Nimrod Air Two Ltd | dividend payment date |
dotDigital Group PLC | dividend payment date |
DS Smith PLC | dividend payment date |
European Assets Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Focusrite PLC | dividend payment date |
Lowland Investment Co PLC | dividend payment date |
Middlefield Canadian Income PCC | dividend payment date |
Mitie Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Shires Income PLC | dividend payment date |
Triad Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Thursday 1 February | |
Albion Enterprise VCT PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Blackstone Loan Financing Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
British American Tobacco PLC | dividend payment date |
CC Japan Income & Growth Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Coral Products PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Edinburgh Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
F&C Investment Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Henderson International Income Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Hollywood Bowl Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Impellam Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
JPMorgan Emerging Europe Middle East & Africa Securities PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
JPMorgan Mid Cap Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
JPMorgan UK Smaller Cos Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
M&G Credit Income Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Mercantile Investment Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Paragon Banking Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
PayPoint PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Polar Capital Global Financials Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
SSP Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Treatt PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
United Utilities Group PLC | dividend payment date |
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