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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were expected to stage a small rebound on Tuesday following sharp losses on Monday, while lender HSBC reported third-quarter profit which beat market forecasts.
Still to come are earnings reports from BP, St James's Place, Whitbread and Plus500.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index will open 13.39 points higher at 5,805.40. The blue-chip index closed 68.27 points lower, or 1.2%, at 5,792.01 Monday.
In early corporate news, HSBC Holdings reported a sharp drop in third-quarter profit, but was "pleased" with significantly reducing its credit losses and is considering a "conservative" shareholder payout for 2020.
HSBC is London's fourth-biggest company by market capitalisation. The stock is up 5.0% in Hong Kong.
In the three months to September 30, the Asia-focused lender's pretax profit dropped 37% year on year to USD3.07 billion from USD4.84 billion. However, the figure beat the company-supplied consensus estimate of USD2.07 billion.
Revenue fell 11% to USD11.93 billion from USD13.36 billion.
This was partly offset by cutting operating expenses to USD8.04 billion from USD8.15 billion and a reduction in expected credit losses to USD785 million from USD883 million the year before. HSBC also noted its third-quarter expected credit losses are sharply below the previous quarter's USD3.83 billion hit.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3038 early Tuesday, up from USD1.3017 at the London equities close Monday.
More than eight million people in England will be under the most stringent coronavirus restrictions when Nottingham and Warrington move into Tier 3 this week.
Tougher measures will come into force in the Midlands city and the boroughs of Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe on Thursday, with details expected to be set out on Tuesday.
Households will be banned from mixing indoors or in private gardens and beer gardens, while betting shops, adult gaming centres, casinos and soft play centres will also close.
The UK government also said a further 102 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday, while there were a further 20,890 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.
The euro was priced at USD1.1832, up from USD1.1818 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY104.72, lower from JPY104.85.
Brent oil was trading at USD40.82 a barrel Tuesday morning, up from USD40.38 late Monday. Gold was quoted at USD1,909.01 an ounce, higher from USD1,903.80.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended sharply lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.3%, S&P 500 down 1.9% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.6%.
US policymakers held another round of talks Monday on a new spending package to aid the virus-hit economy, but the negotiations have lost momentum, dimming hopes an agreement can be reached before the November 3 election.
With Covid-19 cases on the rise nationwide, the need for stimulus has taken on a new urgency, especially as many support programs have expired or are about to, including a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions as well as loans for small businesses, which threatens to spark a wave of bankruptcies and homelessness.
After months of negotiations between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, time has nearly run out to get stimulus approved before President Donald Trump stands for reelection next week. Whether a measure can be approved in the "lame duck" session before the new Congress is seated in January is unclear.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed marginally lower. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.4%. Markets in Hong Kong reopened on Tuesday after being closed for a holiday on Monday.
In the UK corporate calendar on Tuesday oil major BP puts out third-quarter results, while Premier Inn-owner Whitbread releases its half-year results.
The economic calendar for Tuesday has eurozone monetary developments at 0900 GMT, and French producer prices at 0745 GMT. The afternoon has the US advance report on durable goods at 1230 GMT and the Johnson Redbook retail sales index at 1255 GMT.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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