Blue chips in London made a solid start to trading on Tuesday, reflecting gains elsewhere in Europe, boosted by well received updates from HSBC and Pearson.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 23.39 points, 0.3%, at 8,309.01. The FTSE 250 was down 70.22 points, 0.3%, at 20,764.88, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.96 of a point, 0.1%, at 720.14.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 832.16, the Cboe UK 250 fell 0.5% at 18,303.27, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.2% at 16,751.31.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt rose 0.3%.
The pound was quoted at $1.2986 early Tuesday, up from $1.2978 at the London equities close on Monday. The euro stood at $1.0817, largely flat from $1.0815. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥153.43, rising from JP¥153.29.
The UK government budget, as well as US jobs data, will be the economic focuses of the week.
‘GBP/USD continues to look vulnerable ahead of tomorrow’s budget event and next week’s US election, and risks remain skewed to a move to 1.2800-1.2850,’ ING analyst Francesco Pesole commented.
The budget is announced on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, there is the ADP US employment report, before the official nonfarm payrolls on Friday.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank commented: ‘Markets are now pricing in their most hawkish path since the market turmoil kicked off back in the summer. For instance, the rate priced in for the December 2025 meeting moved up to 3.54%, having been as low as 2.78% back in mid-September.’
In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3%.
In Tokyo on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 1.1%, but the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was 0.5% higher. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney added 0.3%.
In London, HSBC rose 3.8%. It reported an increase in third-quarter profit and announced a buyback.
Pretax profit rose 9.9% on-year to $8.48 billion in the third quarter from $7.71 billion, beating consensus of $7.60 billion.
Revenue improved 5.2% to $17.00 billion from $16.16 billion.
HSBC said it intends to kick off a new $3 billion share buyback, after wrapping up one of the same size last week. It plans to complete this new buyback by the time it announces annual results.
HSBC left its annual outlook unchanged.
Fellow Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered rose 1.5% in a positive read across.
Pearson said sales rose in the third-quarter, and the education-focused publisher added that it is ‘starting to see the commercial benefit’ from artificial intelligence. Shares rose 2.2%.
Underlying sales rose 5% on-year in the third-quarter of 2024, and 3% for the first nine months of the year. The measures excludes its Online Program Management and strategic review businesses.
‘Pearson is delivering on the three priorities for 2024 that I identified at the start of the year. First, our focus on operational and financial performance has driven growth across all divisions this quarter and we are on track to meet full-year expectations. Second, we are accelerating our AI capabilities across the business and starting to see the commercial benefit. Third, expanded enterprise relationships with companies such as ServiceNow demonstrate progress on our intention to expand in workforce learning,’ CEO Omar Abbosh said.
For the full-year, it expects adjusted operating profit in line with market expectations which it puts at £598 million.
BP fell 1.0% as weaker refining margins kept a lid on profit. The oil major’s replacement cost profit in the third-quarter weakened 70% to $1.11 billion from $3.65 billion a year prior. Underlying RC profit fell 31% to $2.27 billion from $3.29 billion. Underlying RC profit of $2.05 billion was expected, however, according to company-compiled consensus.
BP raised its dividend by 10% on-year to 8.0 cents per share from 7.27 cents. In addition, it announced a $1.75 billion share buyback for the quarter, as part of its commitment for $3.5 billion for the second half of the year.
Brent oil was quoted at $71.52 a barrel early Tuesday, up from $71.38 at the time of the European equities close on Monday. Gold was quoted at $2,752.03 an ounce, rising from $2,740.80.
Research and data analytics company YouGov shot up 10%. It said revenue in the year to July 31 surged 30% to £335.3 million from £258.3 million. Pretax profit, however, declined 91% to £4.0 million from £44.7 million. Hurting profit, it reported ’separately reported items’ of £38.7 million, a rise from £4.7 million. These include acquisition costs, impairments and re-organisation and integration expenses.
Adjusted pretax profit fell 21% to £45.0 million from £57.2 million.
YouGov lifted its dividend to 9.00 pence per share from 8.75p.
IQE tumbled 15%. The supplier of compound semiconductor wafer products said Americo Lemos has stepped down as chief executive officer effective immediately.
Mark Cubitt, named as chair-elect earlier this month, will become executive chair. Jutta Meier will take up the position of interim CEO in addition to her chief financial officer role.
‘Phil Smith, who has been chair of IQE since 2019, will step down from his role but remain on the IQE board as a non-executive director. IQE will begin the search for a permanent CEO with immediate effect,’ IQE added.
The economic calendar has an Irish gross domestic product reading at 1100 GMT.
Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
