Stocks in London remained cautious on Thursday with traders braced for a wave of US banking earnings and a eurozone interest rate decision before heading off for the long Easter weekend.
And if that wasn't enough, there was another twist in Elon Musk's Twitter saga after a filing showed the billionaire has tabled a takeover offer worth around $43 billion for the microblogging platform.
In a letter to Twitter Chair Bret Taylor, Musk wrote: ‘I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.
‘However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.’
Twitter shares were trading 11% higher at $50.90 pre-market on Thursday, below Musk's touted cash offer price of $54.20.
The FTSE 100 index was down 4.40 points, or 0.1%, at 7,576.40 midday Thursday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down just 0.17 of a point at 20,984.28, while the AIM All-Share index was up 0.88 of a point, or 0.1%, at 1,057.69.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.1% at 754.82. The Cboe 250 was up 0.2% at 18,472.19, and the Cboe Small Companies down 0.2% at 15,387.67.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.1%.
Europe was mixed ahead of the ECB decision at 1245 BST. Following this will be a press conference with President Christine Lagarde at 1330 BST.
‘The expectation is that ECB chief Christine Lagarde and her colleagues will sit on their hands but the runaway nature of inflation in the Eurozone is bringing considerable pressure to bear on the central bank,’ said Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell, said.
The pound was quoted at $1.3129 midday Thursday, up from $1.3060 at the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro was priced at $1.0905, higher from $1.0863.
Concurrently, earnings are due from US banks Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citi before the New York market open on Thursday.
Stocks in New York were pointed to a positive muted on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was seen up 0.2%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both seen opening flat.
‘Despite the tailwind of a US market which flew higher amid strong numbers for Delta Airlines, the FTSE 100 was firmly grounded ahead of the Easter break, trading modestly lower on Thursday morning,’ AJ Bell's Hewson said.
‘The top riser was British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines which took heart from Delta's update, which suggests people are prioritising air travel despite the pressures on their finances. After so long of having their travel restricted, it seems the appeal of jetting away is very strong.’
IAG was up 3.0% around midday in London.
Adding to the upbeat mood in the travel sector, Wizz Air expects a widened annual loss but is preparing for strong demand over the upcoming summer season.
Wizz Air was up 7.2% - at the top of the FTSE 250 - and budget airline peer easyJet was up 3.1%.
In the final three months of Wizz's financial year, ended March 31, it expects to report an operating loss between €190 million and €210 million - which would beat previous expectations, thanks to a ‘stronger trading environment’.
For the full-year, however, its net loss is guided between €632 million and €652 million, which would be widened from the €576.0 million posted for the 2021 financial year - which was its first annual loss since 2012.
To begin financial 2023, Wizz said it is ramping up operations for a ‘busy’ summer programme with the firm expecting to operate available seat kilometres 30% ahead of the April to June 2019 quarter and more than 40% ahead of the July to September 2019 quarter.
‘We have been encouraged by demand trends in recent weeks and given the shorter booking horizon expect the bookings for this summer to build significantly after Easter,’ the airline added.
Dunelm advanced 1.7%. It reported a substantial increase in sales in its third quarter, due to the reopening of its stores, leading the firm to confirm its confidence in meeting market expectations for annual profit.
The Leicester, England-based home furnishings retailer said total sales rose 69% year-on-year to £399 million in the 13 weeks to March 26, with year-to-date sales up 25% at £1.20 billion. Dunelm explained that its store estate was closed in the comparable quarter last year, leaving only click & collect and home delivery services were available to customers.
Versus two years ago, third quarter sales were up 20%.
The company continues to expect that its pretax profit for financial 2022 will be in line with the latest market expectations. It noted that the latest range of analyst forecasts puts its pretax profit between £195 million to £215 million, with the consensus at £207 million. In financial 2021, it posted a pretax profit of £157.8 million.
The company said its gross margin in the third quarter increased by 30 basis points year-on-year, and was better than expected due to a slightly lower proportion of sales from discounted lines during the Winter Sale.
Heading in the opposite direction, emerging markets asset manager Ashmore shed 3.7%.
Assets under management declined by $9.0 billion over its third quarter due to market volatility as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. Ashmore said assets under management fell 10% to $78.3 billion at the end of March from $87.3 billion at the end of December.
The FTSE 250 company explained that this reflects a negative investment performance of $5 billion and $3.7 billion of net outflows. It blamed the performance on lower market levels in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and ‘some institutional rebalancing.’
In London's junior market, Renold jumped 33% after its strong momentum in order intake and turnover continued the second half of the year ended March 31, delivering full-year revenue of £195.0 million.
The Derby, England-based supplier of industrial chains and power transmission products noted this represents a 18% increase on the previous year.
Its order intake rose 32% to £223.7 million, and, as a result, expects underlying trading profit ahead of expectations.
Brent was quoted at $106.92 a barrel on Thursday midday, up versus $106.79 at the time of the equity market close in London on Wednesday.
Gold stood at $1,970.10 an ounce, lower against $1,977.64 late Wednesday.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥125.31 midday Thursday, down from JP¥125.69.
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