London opened mixed on Monday, as it kicks of a quiet week, where the main event will be the annual Jackson Hole meeting.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 9.17 points, 0.1%, at 8,302.24. The FTSE 250 was up 17.52 points, 0.1%, at 21,066.43, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.22 of a point at 774.49.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 829.35, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 18,472.40, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.1% at 16,838.43.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up marginally, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%.
‘We don’t have a busy economic calendar this week, but the central bank policies and rate discussions will be on the menu of the week as the annual Jackson Hole meeting will begin on Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak on Friday, and many other central bankers will speak at the event,’ said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
‘Although Jackson Hole witnessed important policy pivots in the past and is a place where important twists and tweaks could happen, there is little potential for further dovishness regarding the Fed policy when Powell speaks later this week. There is nothing out there – at least in the data that’s available to us – that suggests that the Fed should announce a jumbo rate cut at the September meeting.’
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite all closing up 0.2%.
Back in London, selling prices in the UK dipped in August as would-be buyers put off home-buying plans amid summer holidays, figures on Monday showed.
Rightmove’s House Price Index showed the average asking price fell 1.5% to £367,785 in August, in-line with the 20-year average during the typically quiet month. In addition to seasonal slowness, those who did enter the market in August were likely urgent to sell, pricing more competitively and pushing down prices overall, Rightmove explained.
Despite the monthly slide, August prices are 0.8% higher than they were a year ago, and with the market’s focus on the Bank of England’s recent rate cut, Rightmove expects the market is gathering energy for autumn.
The pound was quoted at $1.2958 early on Monday in London, up compared to $1.2899 at the equities close on Friday. The euro stood at $1.1042, higher against $1.0995. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥146.10, lower compared to JP¥148.24.
In the FTSE 100, Barratt Developments is up 1.3%. In the FTSE 250, Redrow jumped 2.7%.
Barratt has waived the UK Competition & Markets Authority condition to merger with Redrow, and now expects completion this week. Barratt and Redrow said they are still engaging with CMA to address regulator’s ‘limited concerns’.
In August, the UK watchdog said Barratt’s planned acquisition of fellow housebuilder Redrow raises competition concerns in one local area. They said it has found concerns about the Redrow merger in the area around a Barratt project in Whitchurch.
Barratt in February agreed an all-share takeover offer for its smaller peer Redrow, valuing the latter at £2.52 billion.
‘Barratt and Redrow are continuing to engage with the CMA with the objective of agreeing suitable undertakings which would address the CMA’s limited concerns and avoid the need for a reference to a full Phase 2 investigation,’ Barratt said on Monday.
Elsewhere in the FTSE 250, Plus500 rose 5.3%.
Plus500 reported that revenue in the first half of 2024 rose 8.1% to $398.2 million from $368.5 million a year earlier. Pretax profit rose to $183.7 million from $174.9 million.
Plus500 said it will pay out an interim dividend of $0.4686 per share, as well as a special dividend of $0.5314. The company also announced a $110.0 million share buyback, comprising an interim buyback programme of $35.4 million and a special buyback programme of $74.6 million.
Looking ahead, Plus500 said it expects full year results to be ahead of current market expectations, which it says are a revenue of $697.8 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $314.6 million.
In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 1.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.1%.
Brent oil was quoted at $79.23 a barrel early in London on Monday, down from $79.91 late Friday.
Gold was quoted at $2,500.70 an ounce, higher against $2,486.76.
Still to come on Monday’s economic calendar, US Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller is due to speak.
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