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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in Europe were higher early on Thursday, shrugging off unrest in the US, while London's large-cap FTSE 100 got an early boost from J Sainsbury after the grocer reported sales hikes across the board during the festive trading stretch.
The FTSE 100 index was up 48.25 points, or 0.7%, at 6,890.11 early Thursday, continuing its strong start to 2021.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 index lost 8.78 points, however, to 20,964.38. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.1% at 1,171.75.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.5% at 685.87. The Cboe 250 was marginally higher at 18,296.81, but the Cboe Small Companies edged fractionally lower to 11,921.41.
In Paris, the CAC 40 was up 0.1%, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 was 0.2% higher.
"It had been feared that the certification of the Electoral College election result – usually a formality – would take some time. However, nobody would have expected that violent protests and the need to evacuate the Capitol in Washington would delay the process by hours," analysts at Commerzbank said.
Shocking scenes on Wednesday saw angry pro-Trump supporters storm the Capitol. Some 52 people were arrested and four people died, Washington DC Police Chief Robert Contee said. One woman was shot by police in the Capitol building, and later died in hospital, Contee added.
"Despite the very violent and unprecedented images and videos from the social unrest in Washington DC with protesters storming Capitol Hill, markets were relatively calm, as no one believes it is going to change the fact that Joe Biden will soon be sworn in as the next US president," Danske Bank analyst Kristoffer Lomholt said.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3604 early on Thursday, improved from USD1.3570 at the London equities close.
The euro stood at USD1.2305, up from USD1.2275 at the European equities close on Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY103.40, marginally up from JPY103.37.
On the London Stock Exchange, Sainsbury's rallied 4.1% early on Thursday. It said like-for-like sales in the nine weeks to January 2 - so including the key festive period - were up 9.3% year-on-year.
For the whole of its third-quarter, like-for-likes, excluding fuel, climbed 8.6%. Sales hikes were reported across the board, with grocery sales up 7.4%, general merchandise sales climbing 6.0%, and clothing sales up 0.4%.
Sainsbury's noted that online grocery sales more than doubled.
"Grocery, general merchandise and clothing sales were stronger than our expectations throughout the quarter and particularly since the start of England's second national lockdown and subsequent increased restrictions throughout the UK. general merchandise and clothing gross margins additionally benefited from better than anticipated full price sales, driven by customers shopping earlier for Christmas and successful changes to our Black Friday trading strategy," the company explained.
For the year ending March, Sainsbury's expects underlying pretax profit of at least GBP330 million, meaning a potential 44% fall from GBP586 million in financial 2020.
Also rising on Thursday were packaging firms Smurtfit Kappa and DS Smith, up 2.4% and 2.5%. Jefferies raised the pair to Buy from Hold.
Elsewhere among large caps, Ladbrokes Coral owner Entain said it has made a GBP250 million recommended offer for Enlabs, extending the UK bookmaker into Baltic markets. Entain shares were up 1.2%.
The SEK40 per share offer values, which values Enlabs at SEK2.80 billion, about GBP250 million, has the support of 42% of Enlabs shareholders.
"Enlabs predominantly operates online sports-betting and gaming brands across the fast-growing Baltic region with a small retail presence. It is the market leader in Latvia, the second largest in Estonia and a top-five operator in Lithuania," the bookmaker added.
The agreed bid comes in the wake of Entain rejecting a potential takeover offer from its US partner, MGM Resorts International, deriding the offer as too low.
On Thursday, the FTSE 100 firm added that it has continued its "strong performance" during its final quarter, despite government restrictions meaning it was forced to shut its UK bricks and mortar estate.
It bumped up its 2020 Ebitda guidance to between GBP825 million and GBP845 million, between 6% and 8% higher than the previous range.
Budget carrier Ryanair lost 0.9% after it cut its traffic forecast for the year ending March, due to new Covid-19 restrictions in the UK and Ireland.
The airline hit out at the Irish government's latest restrictions, as well as its slow vaccination programme.
The carrier now expects traffic for the year ending March of between 26 million and 30 million, its guidance reduced from the previous forecast of "below 35 million".
Ryanair expects its January traffic to fall to below 1.25 million passengers and Covid-19 restrictions could mean it may only carry 500,000 customers in each of February and March.
The company warned: "In response, Ryanair will significantly cut its flight schedules from Thurs 21 January, which will result in few, if any, flights being operated to/from Ireland or the UK from the end of January until such time as these draconian travel restrictions are removed."
The firm called on the UK and Ireland to speed up their vaccination programmes. Ryanair particularly hit out at Ireland, which it said has vaccinated just 4,000 people, ten times slower than Denmark, a population of a similar size.
"This is the fifth time that Ryanair has cut traffic forecasts for financial 2021, with traffic now expected to be 26-30 million passengers. This will not materially affect the net loss forecasts as loss-making flights will be cut. Winter, and in particular Q4, is always loss making, and Ryanair's very low fixed cost base will limit losses by not operating. What is crucial for Ryanair, and indeed the industry, is that bookings for the summer start coming in during this period," analysts at Davy Research said.
Among mid-caps, embattled All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers shed 6.1%, among the worst performers early on Thursday.
In the 14 weeks to January 2, often bumper weeks for pub trade due to Christmas parties, sales were hurt by government restrictions forcing establishments to close.
Across the whole of the company's first quarter, sales dropped 67% year-on-year.
Looking ahead, the company said that it is "prudent" to explore an equity raise, due to uncertainty in the hospitality sector.
"No decision has yet been made with regards to the timing, size, or terms of any such equity capital raise," the company added.
Elsewhere in London, James Fisher rose 5.8%, after the marine services provider reported an improved fourth quarter of trading.
Revenue in the final quarter of 2020 was up 7% sequentially, the company said, though annual revenue was still 16% lower.
However, underlying operating profit for 2020 is tipped to be in the higher end of its GBP35 million to GBP40 million guidance range.
Brent oil was quoted at USD54.68 a barrel on Thursday morning in London, up from USD54.22 at the London equities close on Wednesday.
Gold fetched USD1,921.75 an ounce, improved from USD1,907.65.
The economic events calendar on Thursday has UK construction PMI at 0930 GMT, eurozone inflation and retail sales data at 1000 GMT and the latest US jobless claims figures at 1330 GMT.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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