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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are called to open slightly higher, following data showing that the average price of a UK home jumped in January.
The average price tag on a UK home jumped by around GBP4,500 month-on-month in January, according to property website Rightmove.
In early corporate news, housebuilder Crest Nicholson cut its outlook. Meanwhile, PageGroup reported a drop in fourth quarter and full-year profit.
Wall Street is closed on Tuesday, for a public holiday for Martin Luther King Jr Day. They will reopen on Tuesday.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called up 0.1% at 7,633.50
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Hang Seng: down 0.2% at 16,211.08
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.9% at 35,901.79
S&P/ASX 200: closed down marginally at 7,496.30
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DJIA: closed down 118.04 points, 0.3%, at 37,592.98
S&P 500: closed up 3.59 points, 0.1%, at 4,783.83
Nasdaq Composite: closed up 2.58 points at 14,972.76
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EUR: down at USD1.0966 (USD1.0971)
GBP: down at USD1.2756 (USD1.2760)
USD: up at JPY145.25 (JPY144.62)
Gold: up at USD2,056.66 per ounce (USD2,053.68)
(Brent): down at USD78.31 a barrel (USD78.65)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS
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Monday's key economic events still to come:
World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos begins
US Martin Luther King Jr Day - financial markets closed
08:30 EST Canada manufacturing sales
08:30 EST Canada wholesale sales
11:00 CET eurozone industrial production
11:00 CET eurozone trade balance
08:00 CET Germany wholesale price index
10:00 CET Italy trade balance
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The average price tag on a UK home jumped by around GBP4,500 month-on-month in January, according to a property website. Across Britain, the average price of a property coming on the market increased by 1.3% or GBP4,571 month-on-month, to GBP359,748, Rightmove said. Despite the increase, average asking prices are still 0.7% lower than a year earlier. Rightmove said the volume of new properties coming onto the market for sale is 15% higher than a year ago. Competitive pricing from sellers is still vital, with the number of new properties coming to market outpacing an increase that is also being seen in buyer demand, the website said.
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UK hiring has slumped to a new decade low and is expected to worsen amid shrinking job vacancies, a new report says. Accounting and business advisory firm BDO said it has recorded UK employment at its weakest since August 2013 in its latest employment index report. The index dropped for a sixth consecutive month to a reading of 99.12 points. It said there were small upticks in optimism from business owners over December as the service sector experienced strong hiring demand.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Panmure raises ITM Power to 'buy' (hold) - price target 90 pence
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RBC raises Melrose Industries target to 560 (540) pence - 'sector perform'
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UBS cuts Burberry price target to 1,099 (1,380) pence - 'sell'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Six people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to disrupt the London Stock Exchange and cause "huge economic damage" after police were tipped off by a newspaper. The Metropolitan Police began an investigation after being passed information on Friday by the Daily Express. Activists from the Palestine Action group were allegedly plotting to "target" the London Stock Exchange on the morning of January 15, causing damage and "locking on" to prevent the building from opening for trading, Scotland Yard said. The Express reported that the plot would kickstart a planned "week of chaos", while the Met added that there was a "suggestion that this was one part of a planned week of action".
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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PageGroup said that fourth quarter gross profit fell 11% annually to GBP237.3 million from GBP266.9 million. Across the full year, profit fell 6.5% to GBP1.01 billion from GBP1.08 billion. The recruitment firm said that trading conditions in Asia, the UK or the US saw no improvement, while trading conditions deteriorated in Europe. Chief Executive Nicholas Kirk commented: "We produced a resilient performance in challenging market conditions. Despite the year-on-year decline in gross profit, we are still seeing good activity levels, albeit we did see a deterioration in job flow through Q4. However, these activity levels are not all converting into gross profit due to ongoing lower levels of candidate and client confidence."
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Housebuilder Crest Nicholson said it has conducted a comprehensive review of the costs associated with its Brightwells Yard, Farnham project, as well as our other legacy sites. It has consequently identified "further additional costs" which will impact results. Based on this, Crest Nicholson now expects pretax profit in its financial year to October 31 to be GBP41 million. In November, the company had guided pretax profit to be between GBP45.0 and GBP50.0 million for the financial year ended October 31, having guided for GBP50.0 million in August. In financial 2022, the company reported pretax profit of GBP137.8 million. In addition, Crest Nicholson expects to recognise an exceptional charge of GBP13 million regarding a legal claim. The claim relates to a low rise apartment scheme built by the company which was damaged by fire in 2021. "The group is addressing this claim diligently and efficiently," it added.
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Ashmore reported that assets under management increased to USD54.0 billion in the three months to December 31 from USD51.7 billion in the prior quarter. The emerging markets-focused investment manager said this comprises of positive investment performance of USD3.9 billion and net outflows of USD1.6 billion. Chief Executive Officer Mark Coombs said: "Emerging markets delivered good returns and outperformed most developed world indices in 2023 due to superior economic growth, effective monetary policies and the benefits of a weaker US dollar as the Fed reaches the end of its tightening cycle. These factors, along with attractive absolute and relative valuations, will support emerging markets asset prices in 2024, leading to outperformance and higher allocations from investors who currently have significantly underweight allocations to emerging markets."
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Pollen Street said Lucy Tilley will join the company as its next chief financial officer. She will succeed Julian Dale, who will be stepping down from the company following the publication of the 2023 financial results. Tilley is joining Pollen Street from Mortgage Advice Bureau, where she has been finance director since 2015 and CFO since 2019.
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By Sophie Rose, Alliance News senior reporter
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