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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were set on Wednesday to start the new month higher, after survey results pointed to a stronger-than-expected recovery in Chinese manufacturing activity.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open up 28.5 points, 0.3%, at 7,904.78 on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 58.83 points, or 0.7% at 7,876.28 on Tuesday. It ended the first two months of 2023 up 4.3%.
The dollar was firm. Sterling was quoted at USD1.2056 early Wednesday, down from USD1.2118 at the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro traded at USD1.0604, lower than USD1.0613. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY136.27, up versus JPY136.11.
In early corporate news, food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com said revenue rose 4.3% year-on-year to EUR5.56 billion from EUR5.33 billion. Pretax loss widened to EUR5.77 billion from EUR1.05 billion, however.
This was mostly due to impairment losses of EUR4.6 billion related to the Grubhub acquisition and Just Eat merger, which Just Eat Takeaway blamed on macroeconomic factors, including rising interest rates.
"Management, together with its advisers, continues to actively explore the partial or full sale of Grubhub," Just Eat Takeaway said.
In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down 0.7%, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.1% lower. The Dow is down 1.5% so far in 2023, but the S&P 500 is up 3.8% and the Nasdaq up 10%, both thanks to a good January.
In Asia on Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong surged 3.9%.
This comes as survey data showed that China's factories returned to growth in February, amid the loosening of pandemic restrictions.
The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 51.6 points in February from 49.2 in January. Crossing over the 50-point no-change mark, it shows the sector is now in a state of modest growth. The latest reading on the strength of China's factory sector was better than the market consensus forecast of 50.2, as cited by FXStreet.
In contrast, the Japanese manufacturing sector saw a sharper downturn in February, with the latest au Jibun Bank manufacturing PMI falling to 47.7 points from 48.9 points in January - showing the sharpest deterioration in the sector since September 2020.
The Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.3% in Tokyo.
Gold was quoted at USD1,834.62 an ounce early Wednesday, higher than USD1,827.19 on Tuesday. Brent oil fetched at USD83.96 a barrel, up from USD83.50.
In Wednesday's UK corporate calendar, there are full-year results from luxury sportscar maker Aston Martin, housebuilder Persimmon, and consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser.
In the economic calendar, there are more manufacturing PMIs to come, from the EU, UK, and the US.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter
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