(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening flat on Tuesday after only modest gains by Asian equity markets, as investors look ahead to the US Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Symposium later this week. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 5.35 points higher at 7,195.00. The blue chip index closed up 72.50 points, or 1.0%, at 7,189.65 on Monday. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index is up 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.1%.In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended more significantly higher than that, cheered by the White House's decision to delay again by 90 days a ban on US companies doing business with telecom equipment and consumer electronics firm Huawei.The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.0%, the S&P 500 up 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.4%. CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "The recent stabilisation in equity markets owes more to a rebound in bond yields than to any optimism over a stabilisation in the US-China trade situation. It still remains highly unlikely that we will see a speedy resolution here, and there remains a real risk that President Trump may turn his attention to the EU given his remarks last week that the EU treats the US worse than China, when it comes to trade."That being said, US markets managed to close higher for the third day in a row after the US government delayed restrictions on Huawei for another 90 days; however they closed off their highs as some late caution set in and this is likely to translate into a flat open for European markets this morning, after markets in Asia also traded cautiously as China's new floating loan rate changes came into effect."In company news, BHP Group on Tuesday reported an improvement in performance in its most recently ended financial year, but results were mostly below what the market had expected.For the 12 months to June, the mining giant's pretax profit rose 2.0% to USD15.05 billion the prior year, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation were broadly flat year-on-year at USD23.16 billion compared to USD23.18 billion. The underlying Ebitda figure fell short of the USD23.71 billion expected by analysts.BHP's annual revenue from continuing operations was USD44.29 billion, up 2.7% from a year earlier, but again below consensus of USD44.74 billion.BHP is paying a "record" final dividend of 78 US cents a share, 25 cents above its policy of paying 50% of underlying attributable profit.The total dividend for BHP's financial year was 133 cents, 13% higher than the 118 cents paid out a year earlier. However, it is below analyst consensus of a 236 cents return, with the market having expected BHP to double the annual payout.
BHP shares were down 0.5% in Sydney on Tuesday at AUD36.07.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2121 early Tuesday, lower than USD1.2139 at the London equities close Monday.UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced fresh calls to ensure there is no return to a hard border on the island of Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit.Johnson wrote to EU Council President Donald Tusk on Monday evening outlining his opposition to what he called the "anti-democratic" Northern Ireland backstop.In the letter, Johnson said while he wants the UK to leave the EU with a deal, he could not support any withdrawal agreement that "locks the UK, potentially indefinitely, into an international treaty which will bind us into a customs union and which applies large areas of single market legislation in Northern Ireland".Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Tony Lloyd said pursuing a no-deal Brexit would put "jobs, rights, prosperity or peace in Northern Ireland at risk".The UK corporate calendar on Tuesday has interim results from housebuilder Persimmon and oilfield services firm John Wood. The economic events calendar on Tuesday has eurozone construction output at 1000 BST.
BHP Group (BHP)