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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares opened flat to marginally lower Tuesday, amid a end-quarter rush of corporate announcements and ahead of key eurozone inflation data.
Royal Bank of Scotland is leading FTSE 100 leaders, Up 4.1%, after an encouraging update on impairments. Next is leading fallers, down 3.6%, after warning that the warm start to autumn in the UK is harming sales.
Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,639.25
FTSE 250: flat at 15,392.09
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 749.44
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Hang Seng: down 0.8% at 23,049.90
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.8% at 16,173.52
DJIA: closed down 0.3% at 17,071.22
S&P 500: closed down 0.3% at 1,977.80
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6274
EUR-USD: up at USD1.2691
GOLD: flat at USD1,216.23 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD97.13 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)
08:55 Germany Unemployment
09:00 Italy Unemployment
09:30 UK Current Account
09:30 UK GDP, Index of Services, Business Investment
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
10:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Unemployment Rate
11:00 Italy Producer Price Index
13:30 Canada GDP, Raw Material and Industrial Product Price Indices
13:55 US Redbook index
14:00 US S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
14:45 US Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
15:00 US Consumer Confidence
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An index measuring UK consumer confidence slid into negative territory in September, the latest survey from GfK revealed on Tuesday with a score of -1. That missed forecasts for a reading of 0, and it was down from +1 in August. The index has fluctuated between +1 and -2 through the last five months; in September 2013, the index came in at -10.
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China's manufacturing sector continued to expand in September, if barely, the latest survey from HSBC revealed with a PMI reading of 50.2. That was unchanged from the August reading, although it was down from the flash estimate of 50.5 earlier this month. A reading above 50 means expansion in a sector, while a score below signals contraction.
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Tens of thousands of Hong Kongers calling for more democracy continued their street protests and blocked main transport routes Tuesday, after a peaceful night of demonstrations in the Chinese territory. Student leaders threatened to step up the protests if their demands were not met by Wednesday, including the resignation of the head of Hong Kong's government, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, and the withdrawal of an electoral reform plan announced by Beijing.
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Syria is ready to cooperate with international efforts aimed at "fighting and combating terrorism," Walid Al-Moualem, Syria's deputy prime minister, told the UN General Assembly Monday. While signaling Syria's willingness to join the fight, Al-Moualem stressed that the international efforts to stop the spread of the Islamic State "must be done in full respect of the lives of innocent civilians and within the frame of full respect of national sovereignty." The US-led coalition including US-allies in the Middle East and Western states has started bombing Islamic State targets inside Syria, but has ruled out cooperating with the Syrian government, which it says is responsible for the deaths of 200,000 people during the three-year-plus civil conflict.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: INVESTEC RAISES ANTOFAGASTA TO 'HOLD' ('SELL')
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TRADERS: INVESTEC RAISES ANGLO AMERICAN TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
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TRADERS: INVESTEC RAISES RANDGOLD RESOURCES TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
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BERNSTEIN CUTS ARM TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('MARKET-PERFORM') - TARGET 750 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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British Land Co said it has signed an agreement with Plymouth City Council to develop Drake Circus Leisure, a 100,000 square foot leisure scheme next to its 570,000 square foot Drake Circus Shopping Centre in the city centre of Plymouth. The real estate company said the GBP40 million development will include a 12 screen cinema operated by Cineworld Group PLC, 13 restaurant units and 450 car park spaces.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group said it expects to "significantly outperform" its previous impairment guidance for the full year, supported by an improvement in economic conditions and asset prices in its key markets, including Ireland, though it issued a warning on third-quarter corporate and institutional banking revenue. RBS had previously guided about GBP1.0 billion in total impairments for the full year, but gave no specific new guidance.
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Intertek Group said it has appointed André Lacroix as Chief Executive with effect from May 16, 2015. At this time he will also join the FTSE 100-listed company's board. He succeeds Wolfhart Hauser who will step down from the board and retire on May 15, after ten years as CEO.
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Next said the unseasonably warm weather in the autumn is having a detrimental impact on its performance and said, if the weather conditions continue, it will have to downgrade its profit guidance for the year. Next said the cooler weather in August resulted in some strong weeks, but said the warmer weather conditions since have had the opposite effect. It said its third quarter sales to date are up 6% year-on-year, below its previous guidance of 10% growth. The company said its profit guidance for the full year remains within its previous forecasts at present and said traditionally these lost sales are regained once the weather turns. But it said that if the unusually warm weather seen in the UK continues throughout October, the group will have to lower its full-year profit guidance to GBP775 million to GBP815 million.
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Tesco is understood to have lined up a GBP2.5 billion financing package to safeguard the company against potential ratings downgrades as it works to resolve a GBP250 million black hole in its profit guidance, Sky News reported on Monday. The supermarket has signed up a group of banks to provide a credit facility designed to provide what one banker described as an "insurance policy" as the group contends with the accounting problem, Sky News said.
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British Sky Broadcasting Group said it has made a USD5 million investment in San Francisco, California based Sharethrough Inc. Sharethrough provides native advertising services to match online advertising campaigns to the web pages they are hosted on. Native advertising is used to provide content within a web page in a way that is less intrusive, such as promoted tweets on Twitter.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Saga H1 Pretax Profit GBP32.8M Vs GBP92.1M; Says Well On Track To Meet Market Expectations For FY; Confirms Jonathan Hill To Join As CFO Designate To Replace Stuart Howard, Retiring End 2015
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TalkTalk Telecom Appoints Iain Torrens As Group CFO; Says Torrens Joins From ICAP
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QinetiQ Reaffirms FY Guidance
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Bovis Homes Finance Director Jonathan Hill To Leave For New Position
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Melrose Industries Buys Eclipse Inc For USD158M In Cash; Says US-Based Eclipse Bought On Debt, Cash Free Basis From Existing Debt Facilities
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RPC Group April 1 To Sept 30: Revenue Significantly Ahead Of Comparable
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Euromoney Says Trading Has Continued In Line With Expectations; Q4 Headline Revenues To Be Similar To Last Year; Total Revenues For FY To Be Broadly In Line
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AO World Says UK On Track To Meet Full Year Expectations
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ICAP H1 Group Revenue Expected To Be 10% Lower Than Year Before At Constant Currency, 15% Lower At Actual Currency; Says Restructuring Of Global Broking Division On Track For GBP60M Savings, GBP40M In Current Year; Searching For Finance Director Successor
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Range Resources said it widened its pretax loss following a major write off of numerous assets and increased finance costs as it looks to focus on developing its operations in Trinidad through further acquisitions. Range's shares were down 24% to 1.22 pence per share following the release of its results for the 2014 financial year. It reported a pretax loss of USD64.8 million in the year ended June 30, from USD18.3 million in the 2013 financial year. The widened loss was primarily caused by a rise in finance costs to USD21.8 million from USD4 million and writing off assets to the value of USD24.3 million.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Science in Sport
Stallion Resources
Max Petroleum
Tanfield Group
Begbies Traynor Group
Surface Transforms
Ludorum
Terra Catalyst Fund
United Carpets Group
Empyrean Energy
Midas Income & Growth Trust
Anglesey Mining
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite
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