LONDON MARKET OPEN: Tepid Start After German Factory Orders Plummet

(Alliance News) - London stocks were wobbly at the start of trade on Wednesday after the morning kicked off with some woeful factory order data from Germany.

The FTSE 100 index was up 6.28 points, or 0.1%, at 5,855.70 early Wednesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 13.42 points, or 0.1%, at 16,079.72. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 805.14.

The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.1% at 9,897.60. The Cboe 250 was down 0.1% at 13,780.84, and the Cboe Small Companies flat at 8,882.46.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.2% early Wednesday.

"European trading session remains fragile as investors are reacting to another feeble economic reading. The German factory order data has shown that the economic engine of the eurozone has too many problems, the data missed the forecast by a large margin," remarked Naeem Aslam at AvaTrade.

According to the numbers from Destatis, manufacturing orders plunged 16% annually in March. They fell by just shy of 16% from February.

Market consensus predicted a 10% month-on-month decline, according to FXStreet.

"The number of new orders in manufacturing in Germany decreased significantly in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic," Destatis explained.

The revised figures for February, before the Covid-19 pandemic took a stranglehold on the European economy, showed a 1.2% monthly decline and a 1.9% rise year-on-year.

Following the German data, the euro traded at USD1.0827 early Wednesday, down on USD1.0842 late Tuesday.

To come, there are services PMIs from Italy, France, Germany and the eurozone at 0845 BST, 0850 BST, 0855 BST and 0900 BST respectively.

Already out, IHS Markit said Spain's composite PMI for April slumped to a mere 9.2 from 26.7 in March. Spain's services PMI deteriorated to 7.1 from 23.0.

"Given the restrictions on economic activity currently in place across Spain, April's devastating PMI data may well not come as a surprise to many commentators," said Paul Smith, economics director at IHS Markit.

Further, there is a UK construction PMI at 0930 BST and eurozone retail sales at 1000 BST. US ADP employment change is at 1315 BST, the data a precursor to Friday's monthly jobs report.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2444 in the morning, soft on USD1.2453 at the London equities close on Tuesday.

Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY106.32 versus JPY106.58.

In Asia on Wednesday, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.3%. The market in Tokyo remains closed for the Constitution Memorial Day holiday.

At the top of the FTSE 100 was Ocado, up 3.6% as retail revenue in the second quarter to date surged 40% on a year ago after 10% growth in the first quarter.

However, it has suspended its retail guidance for the current financial year until it can get some visibility on the length of the Covid-19 crisis and the longer-term impact on customers' disposable income.

The number of items per basket appears to have levelled off, but still remains high, as "more normal" shopping behaviours have returned. To support the "unprecedented" level of business Ocado Retail is doing, the firm has ramped up capacity significantly.

"Although we expect the long-term shift towards on-line grocery to accelerate post-crisis, there remain many uncertainties about the length of the crisis, customer reaction immediately post and its long term impact on customers' disposable incomes and so we have suspended our guidance for Retail Revenue for FY20 until we can accurately forecast likely outcomes," said Ocado.

In its solutions business, Ocado said it has managed to deliver the first international customer fulfilment centres to international partners Groupe Casino and Sobeys.

AstraZeneca shares were up 1.3% after the pharmaceutical firm said Farxiga has been approved in the US to treat heart failure in adults.

Farxiga, the brand name for dapagliflozin, has been approved by the US Food & Drug Administration to reduces cardiovascular death and hospitalisation for heart failure in adults with heart failure who have reduced ejection fraction and do not have type-2 diabetes. Reduced ejection fraction means that the left ventricle of the heart does not pump as well as it should, so the heart pumps less blood than needed.

In the red was ITV, down 1.2%. It said sales fell in the first quarter as Covid-19 put a halt on ITV Studios productions.

Total external revenue was down 7% in the first quarter to GBP694 million, with ITV Studios revenue down 11% and Broadcast revenue up 2%. ITV total advertising revenue was up 2%.

Since mid-March ITV Studios has had to pause the majority of its productions due to Covid-19, it said, and there has been a "significant impact" on advertising demand across most categories. More positively, ITV Studios Global Distribution is seeing good demand for library content internationally and its BritBox streaming service is seeing "good growth".

Given the uncertain outlook, ITV said it will not be giving guidance for the second quarter or for the remainder of the year.

In the FTSE 250, Hiscox was up 2.7% at 713.80 pence after raising GBP375 million in a share placing priced at 650p per share.

After the market close on Tuesday, the insurer announced that it would conduct a raising of funds through a placing, the proceeds of which will go towards allowing the FTSE 100 group to respond to upcoming growth opportunities as well as allow it withstand a range of downside scenarios.

Alongside this, Hiscox said gross written premiums edged upwards in the first quarter of 2020, as rises in Retail and the London Market more than offset a fall in Re & ILS.

Jefferies upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold.

"Having fallen more than 60% since its July 2019 high and undertaken a 19.99% equity issue, Hiscox now offers investors a secure balance sheet and very high growth," Jefferies said.

By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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