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(Alliance News) - Stocks are set for a muted open in London, following on from an uninspiring session in the US and a mixed day in Asia, as the world continues to see a surge in Omicron cases.
In early UK corporate news, Creightons overcame a drop in pandemic-related sales in its interim results. Indus Gas awaits a pipeline to deliver its production. Harbour Energy completed the drilling of an exploration well that hit hydrocarbons.
"Omicron fears continued to fade overnight, in North America at least, propelling the S&P 500 and Dow Jones to record closes, lifting oil prices, and weighing on the US dollar. Even gold managed to recoup most of its intra-day losses as optimistic long positions were once again culled," Oanda's Jeffrey Halley said.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index will open down 8.4 points, 0.1%, at 7,412.20 on Thursday. The blue-chip index closed up 48.59 points, or 0.7%, at 7,420.6 on Wednesday.
In the New York on Wednesday, the Dow and S&P 500 edged to records, extending a rally as markets bet the highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid-19 will not significantly dent economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3% and the S&P 500 0.1%, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1%.
Halley continued: "The upbeat mood was helped along by better-than-expected US retail sales and larger-than-expected drops in US crude oil and gasoline inventories, suggesting that despite the current virus wave, the US domestic economy continues to power forward. A dearth of heavy-duty data releases globally this week continues to leave markets driven by sentiment, and by sentiment, I mean Omicron headlines."
In the UK, a new record was set for the daily number of coronavirus cases, as all four nations reported their figures for the first time since Christmas Eve.
The UK government said that a further 183,037 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases had been recorded in the UK as of 9am on Wednesday. The 138,287 figure for England was also the highest recorded.
It comes as Boris Johnson's government is scrambling to secure supplies of Covid-19 tests. The UK prime minister earlier urged people to get swabbed before enjoying New Year celebrations.
Ministers acknowledged a worldwide supply issue is hitting the UK, as people again struggled to get tests through pharmacies or delivered to their home. The government website showed no PCR tests were available for home delivery, even for essential workers, in England or Northern Ireland, with "very few" in Scotland, while Wales had availability only in some regions.
The lack of testing comes as the World Health Organisation believes a Covid "tsunami" threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems.
The blistering surge was illustrated by AFP's tally of 6.6 million new infections reported globally in the week ending Tuesday, the highest the figure has been since the WHO declared a Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
"I am highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The variant has already started to overwhelm some hospitals in the US, the hardest-hit nation, where the seven-day average of new cases hit 265,427, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
In London, consumer goods firm Creightons reported a slip in first half profit but was able to maintain its interim payout amid underlying business momentum.
In the six months to September 30, pretax profit fell 21% to GBP2.3 million from GBP2.9 million, as revenue declined by 7.4% to GBP30.0 million from GBP32.4 million. Administrative expenses rose 6.3% to GBP8.5 million from GBP8.0 million.
Creightons noted its "excellent progress" in the recent half-year in offsetting the loss of one-off hygiene sales worth GBP11.5 million a year before related to the virus pandemic.
"These hygiene sales were very significant so to have substantially replaced in the first half by growth in core sales across branded, private label and contract business units before the full impact of recent acquisitions reflects the underlying strength and momentum of the business," Creightons said.
Despite the drop in revenue and profit, Creightons maintained its interim dividend at 0.15 pence.
Natural gas distribution company Indus Gas reported a rise in profit in the first half of its financial year but continues to hold out hope for a "step change" in fortunes if its Rajasthan project gets a new pipeline.
In the six months to September 30, pretax profit improved by 10% to USD23.0 million from USD20.9 million as revenue grew by 17% to USD27.1 million from USD23.2 million.
Chair Peter Cockburn said: "While the pandemic continues to present operational challenges, revenues in the interim period recovered to the comparable pre-pandemic level achieved in 2019. The company continues to anticipate a step change in revenues once the additional gas supplies commence through the new pipeline."
Indus Gas owns a 90% interest in block RJ-ON/6 in Rajasthan, India. Regulators in India, Indus noted, have re-invited bids for the laying of a gas pipeline from the gas processing facility for the evacuation of gas from the block.
Harbour Energy said it has completed the drilling of the Dunnottar exploration well in licence P2399 in the UK North Sea.
The well reached a total measured depth of 15,639 feet, finding hydrocarbon-bearing intervals in the Palaeocene, Jurassic and Triassic.
Harbour will now assess the "commerciality of these marginal accumulations". In the meantime, the well will be plugged and abandoned.
House prices in the UK ended 2021 at a record high, Nationwide said, with annual price growth in double digits.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "Annual house price growth remained in double digits in December, making 2021 the strongest calendar year performance since 2006."
In December, house prices saw a 10.4% increase on a year before, accelerating from 10.0% annual growth in November.
On the month before, prices were up 1.0%, increasing slightly from November's 0.9% rise.
The average house prices was GBP254,822 in December compared to GBP252,687 in November.
"The price of a typical UK home is now at a record high of GBP254,822, up GBP23,902 over the year - the largest rise we've seen in a single year in cash terms. Prices are now 16% higher than before the pandemic struck in early 2020," Gardner continued.
"Demand has remained strong in recent months, despite the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of September. Mortgage approvals for house purchase have continued to run above pre-pandemic levels, despite the surge in activity seen earlier in the year. Indeed, in the first 11 months of 2021 the total number of property transactions was almost 30% higher than over the same period of 2019."
Looking to 2022, Nationwide's Gardner said the housing market should slow down - owing to the end of the stamp duty holiday - the outlook remains "extremely uncertain".
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4% in Tokyo's last trading day of 2021. In China, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was slightly higher in late trade. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed marginally higher.
Shares in embattled Chinese property firm Evergrande tumbled in Hong Kong on Thursday, after a report the group had failed to meet two more offshore payments.
Evergrande – drowning in USD300 billion in liabilities – has struggled to repay bondholders and investors after becoming ensnared in Beijing's deleveraging crackdown on China's bloated property sector.
Earlier this week the group cheered investors by insisting it would be able to deliver tens of thousands of units this month, and pay off some debts.
But shares plummeted Thursday, down 8.5% in Hong Kong, after Bloomberg News said the due date had passed for two more debt deadlines with no sign of payment, wiping out earlier gains this week.
Brent oil was quoted at USD79.08 a barrel Thursday morning, up from USD78.22 at Wednesday's equities close in London. Gold stood at USD1,797.50, down from USD1,802.90.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3475 early Thursday, unchanged from USD1.3476 at the London equities close on Wednesday.
The euro was priced at USD1.1317, down from USD1.1346. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY115.18, firm from JPY114.95.
Thursday's economic calendar has US initial jobless claims at 1330 GMT.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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