Stock prices in London, Paris and Frankfurt opened lower on Friday morning, while Goodwin on the FTSE 250 shined, while Just Group dived.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 38.81 points, 0.5%, at 8,644.03. The FTSE 250 was down 174.78 points, 0.9%, at 19,984.29, and the AIM All-Share was down 2.19 points, 0.3%, at 690.27.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.6% at 865.19, the Cboe UK 250 was down 1.1% at 17,373.67, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.2% at 15,531.78.
Fresnillo led the FTSE 100, up 1.9% after Berenberg raised it to ’buy’ from ’hold’, increasing the price target to 1,020 pence from 840p. Schroders led the laggers, down 4.1%.
Alliance Witan was down 1.0%.
The investor celebrated a ‘landmark year’ and said it achieved a net asset value total return of 13.3% in 2024.
While ‘strongly positive’ this was down from a 21.6% return for 2023 and ‘trailed our benchmark index, the MSCI All Country World Index’ which delivered a 19.6% return.
It also gave a total dividend for 2024 of 26.70p per share, up 6.0% on-year and including a fourth interim payout of 6.73p.
On the FTSE 250, Goodwin led with a 7.1% gain.
Just Group was easily the worst performer, losing 17%.
The retirement income products and services provider said statutory pretax profit declined to £113 million in 2024 from £172 million in 2023, although insurance revenue rose to £1.81 billion from £1.56 billion.
Just Group also said it will pay a final dividend of 1.8p per share, bringing the total payout to 2.5p, up 20% on-year.
Among smaller caps, Empyrean Energy gained 5.5%.
The oil and gas development company with interests in Australia, Indonesia and the US, announced that a definitive farm-in agreement has now been executed between it, Chi Oil and Gas and Condor Energy Services.
The deal formalises Empyrean’s earn-in to ATP1173 by funding part of the drilling of the Wilson River-1 well, leaving Empyrean with a 52.8% working interest, it said.
Indus Gas lost 19%.
The oil and gas explorer and developer with assets in India said it is still awaiting the extension to the production sharing contract for Block RJ-ON/6.
‘Additionally, gas sales to GAIL and associated revenue remain low,’ Indus said.
EnQuest was up 5.5%, while Serica Energy was up 8.1%.
Serica confirmed talks for a potential combination with EnQuest, for which the latter has until April 4 to announce an intention.
The average UK house price stood at £298,602 in February, down 0.1%. On-year, house price growth stood at 2.9% in February, unchanged from January’s pace.
‘While house price growth has slowed overall, market activity remains strong and comparable to pre-pandemic levels, demonstrating a resilience amongst buyers that‘s been evident in the face of higher borrowing costs,’ commented Halifax Head of Mortgages Amanda Bryden.
Also, UK retail footfall growth slowed but increased for the second consecutive month, as retail parks outperformed other destinations.
According to British Retail Consortium-Sensormatic data, total UK footfall increased by 0.2% in February from the previous year, down from 6.6% in January.
‘Strong investment in retail parks and fewer empty stores has led to consistent positive shopper traffic over the past year,’ BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said.
She added that the government ‘must do more to support the retail industry’s ability to invest’, saying: ‘Ensuring no shop pays more as a result of business rates reform and delaying the new packaging levy would allow for more investment in stores and jobs, giving footfall a better chance of recovery in 2025.’
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.0%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 1.4%.
The EU has committed to bolstering its defences by making hundreds of billions of euros available for spending on security, following US President Donald Trump’s repeated warnings of withdrawing support.
Emergency talks in Brussels on Thursday saw EU leaders explore new ways to beef up their security and ensure future protection for Ukraine, as well as signing off on a move to loosen budget restrictions so that willing EU countries can increase their military spending.
They also urged the European Commission to seek new ways ‘to facilitate significant defence spending’ in all member states, a statement said.
The pound was quoted higher at $1.2926 early on Friday in London, compared to $1.2890 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at $1.0852, higher against $1.0827. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JP¥147.32 compared to JP¥148.10.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 2.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 1.8%.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.0%, the S&P 500 down 1.8% and the Nasdaq Composite down 2.6%.
Brent oil was quoted higher at $70.17 a barrel early in London on Friday from $68.84 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted higher at $2,920.92 an ounce against $2,916.75.
Still to come on Friday’s economic calendar, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde speaks in the morning and US nonfarm payrolls are due later.
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