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LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are set for a higher open on Friday, after banking heavyweight HSBC reported a positive start to 2019, registering 30% profit growth.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 10.9 points higher at 7,362.21. The blue chip index closed down 33.95 points, or 0.5%, at 7,351.31 on Thursday.
Early Friday, Europe's largest bank HSBC said it made a "good start" to 2019, seeing a significant rise in first quarter profit driven by its Retail Banking & Wealth Management and Commercial Banking businesses.
For the three months ended March, pretax profit rose 30% to USD6.21 billion from USD4.76 billion the year prior. Excluding the impact of currency translation, pretax profit rose 9.5% on the year before.
The Asia-focused lender's revenue increased 14% in the first quarter to USD14.43 billion from USD12.70 billion the year before. Revenue performance was driven by strong growth in all of HSBC's three main global businesses.
"We have made a good start to 2019. Reported profit after tax was up significantly on the first quarter in 2018, thanks largely to strong revenue growth in our Retail Banking & Wealth Management and Commercial Banking businesses, and favourable movements in significant items," said Chief Executive John Flint.
HSBC's net interest margin at March 31 was 1.59%, down from 1.67% at the end of the first quarter in 2018. For the first quarter, return on tangible equity stood at 10.6%, up from 8.4% the year prior.
For the three months ended March, the jaws ratio was at 6.0%. The CET1 ratio for HSBC ended the period at 14.3%, an increase from 14.0% at December 31.
Still to come are first-quarter figures from packaging firm Smurfit Kappa, InterContinental Hotels Group, and wound dressing maker ConvaTec.
UK voters have vented their anger at the two main parties over the continuing Brexit deadlock as both the Tories and Labour suffered losses in the English council elections.
The Conservatives had been braced for a tough night amid frustration at Theresa May's failure to take Britain out of the EU on March 29 as planned.
However Labour also struggled, losing seats at a point in the electoral cycle when they could expect to be making significant gains at the expense of the government.
In contrast, the Liberal Democrats were enjoying a good night, with some predictions that they could pick up as many as 500 seats.
With results in from 88 of the 248 councils where elections are being held, the Conservatives had lost 224 seats and Labour 37 while the Lib Dems had gained 155 and the Greens 26.
In other UK news, good weather, school holidays, and Easter have failed to salvage the UK's suffering high streets in April, figures showed.
UK high street retail sales were down 0.4% year-on-year off an already poor 3.8% fall for the same month last year, according to BDO's high street sales tracker.
It also marked the third month of in-store sales decline so far this year and fifteen months of little to no growth for the UK's beleaguered high street.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3037 early on, broadly flat from USD1.3034 at the close on Thursday.
Under the microscope later Friday will be the US nonfarm payrolls report at 1330 BST, alongside the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings. Also in the US, at 1445 BST, is the Markit US services PMI.
"US non-farm payrolls report will be revealed, and the consensus estimate is 185,000, and that compares with the 196,000 registered in March," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
"Unemployment is tipped to remain at 3.8%. Yearly average earnings and monthly average are expected to edge up to 3.3% and 0.3% respectively. Workers who earn more typically spend more, so the wages component will be closely watched."
In Europe, there is the UK's service PMI at 0930 BST and eurozone inflation at 1000 BST.
"The [UK services PMI] reading is expected to rebound from 48.9 to 50.5. Keep in mind the services sector accounts for approximately for 75% of UK economic output," continued Madden.
"Earlier this week, the manufacturing PMI report and the construction PMI readings came in at 53.1 and 50.5 respectively, so the other big industries are showing small levels of growth."
Already out Friday, a PMI reading showed growth in activity in the Irish services sector slowed to a three-month low in April. The AIB services PMI for April printed at 54.7 in April, which was down slightly on its March reading of 55.3
"It remained within the 54 to 56 range that has characterised the index year to date. The April level continues to indicate a strong pace of expansion in business activity in the services sector," said AIB Chief Economist Oliver Mangan.
The sector has reported growth every month since August 2012. Activity was seen highest among Business Services firms.
In the US on Thursday Wall Street ended in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.5%, the S&P 500 0.2% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite also down 0.2%.
The Tokyo and Shanghai markets both remain closed for the Constitution Memorial and Labour Day holidays respectively, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.4%.
