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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were attempting to rebound on Tuesday after falling sharply on Monday amid Ukraine military tensions and looming US interest rate hikes.
The FTSE 100 index was up 40.60 points, or 0.5%, at 7,337.75 early Tuesday. The blue-chip index lost 196.98 points, or 2.6%, to 7,297.15 Monday.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 145.37 points, or 0.7%, at 21,597.87. The AIM All-Share index was up 6.33 points, or 0.6%, at 1,084.36.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.5% at 729.86. The Cboe 250 was up 0.6% at 19,351.55, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.1% at 15,158.25.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 stock index in Paris was up 1.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.5%.
Russian gold miner Polymetal International was the best performer in the FTSE 100, up 4.2%, attempting to claw back some of Monday's steep losses. The stock closed down 7.3% on Monday amid fears over a Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the FTSE 250, Ferrexpo, which mines iron pellets in Ukraine, was up 1.5%, having lost 5.7% on Monday.
Royal Mail was up 3.5% after the letter and parcel delivery firm said its performance in the October to December, its financial third quarter, was in line with expectations.
It said staff absences due to Covid-19 peaked at 15,000 within the UK domestic operation in early January, hurting service levels in some areas of the country and slowing the realisation of planned cost efficiencies.
Royal Mail said it is set to axe around 700 management jobs as part of cost-cutting plans to deliver an annualised benefit of around GBP40 million, with around GBP30 million in financial 2023. The company will incur a restructuring charge of around GBP70 million charge to be taken in the fourth quarter of financial 2022.
The former state postal monopoly lowered its full-year outlook, and now expects adjusted operating profit of around GBP430 million for the year ending March, lower than previous guidance of GBP500 million.
Abrdn was up 3.0% after Credit Suisse started coverage on the fund manager with an Outperform rating.
In the FTSE 250, Capricorn Energy was up 6.0%. The oil and gas firm said it was encouraged by the initial operating performance of its newly acquired Western Desert assets in Egypt, with production growth ahead of expectations.
The company, formerly known as Cairn Energy, said that with the tax refund from the government of India due and active management of its asset portfolio, it is well positioned to continue delivery of its business model of returning value to shareholders, whilst building sustainable cashflow generation and growth.
Capricorn plans to return up to USD700 million of the India tax refund proceeds to shareholders. Of this, USD500 million will be returned to shareholders by way of tender offer, while USD200 million will be returned via an ongoing share repurchase programme.
Elsewhere in London, THG was up 4.5% after RBC raised the beauty products retailer to Outperform from Sector Perform.
European markets were ignoring a negative lead from Asia, where equity markets ended sharply lower on Tuesday. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 2.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 1.7%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 2.5%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3485 early Tuesday, up from USD1.3451 at the London equities close Monday.
The euro was priced at USD1.1300, lower from USD1.1312. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY113.93, up slightly from JPY113.88.
Brent oil was quoted at USD86.75 a barrel Tuesday morning, up sharply from USD85.51 late Monday. Gold stood at USD1,840.11 an ounce, higher against USD1,833.82.
The economic calendar has US consumer confidence at 1500 GMT. The US Federal Reserve's first monetary policy meeting of the year gets underway on Tuesday, with a policy announcement on Wednesday at 1900 GMT and press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell at 1930 GMT.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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