30th Aug 2019 08:07
(Alliance News) - Oil giant Saudi Aramco is considering Japan's Tokyo Stock Exchange for its USD2 trillion listing amid political instability in the UK and Hong Kong, the Guardian reported.
Saudi Arabia's state-owned company had originally favoured an international stock market debut in either London or Hong Kong, but rising political uncertainty due to Brexit in the former and anti-government protests in latter have reduced their appeal.
The decision to rule out London and Hong Kong would prove a major blow to both financial centres, the newspaper noted, which have courted the "mega-float" since it was first announced in early 2016.
Last year, the UK's City watchdog changed listing rules in a move designed to encourage Aramco to list on the London Stock Exchange.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open on Friday:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 7,191.68
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Hang Seng: down 0.3% at 25,622.50
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.2% at 20,704.37
DJIA: closed up 326.15 points, 1.3%, at 26,362.25
S&P 500: closed up 1.3% at 2,924.58
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GBP: down at USD1.2166 (USD1.2196)
EUR: down at USD1.1037 (USD1.1058)
Gold: down at USD1,529.00 per ounce (USD1,536.50)
Oil (Brent): down at USD60.20 a barrel (USD60.85)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
0930 CEST EU EuroCOIN indicator of euro area economic activity
1100 CEST EU flash estimate euro area inflation
1100 CEST EU unemployment
0930 BST UK monetary & financial statistics
0830 EDT US personal income & outlays
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The UK prime minister will intensify Brexit negotiations with Brussels amid three legal challenges to his decision to suspend Parliament. Boris Johnson called for both the UK and EU to "step up the tempo" as further protests were planned over his move to suspend Parliament for more than a month in the run-up to Brexit. Downing Street said the UK's team of Brexit negotiators will sit down with their EU counterparts twice a week during September "with the possibility of additional technical meetings, to discuss a way forward on securing a new deal". The push comes as judges in Scotland and Northern Ireland prepare to hear from lawyers representing anti-no-deal campaigners and the UK Government on Friday, with a decision expected in Edinburgh.
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Consumer confidence has fallen in the UK amid a sudden drop in expectations for personal finances and the general economy over the next 12 months, a survey suggested. Overall confidence fell three points to minus 14 in August "in the face of pre-Brexit nerves", according to GfK's long-running Consumer Confidence Index. All five measures for the index saw decreases, including a six point drop in expectations for the general economic situation over the next 12 months to minus 38 – 12 points lower than this time last year.
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UK house prices were little changed in August, figures from Nationwide showed. On an annual basis, house prices were up 0.6% in August. Month-on-month, prices were flat on a seasonally adjusted basis. This compares to rises of 0.3% on both an annual and monthly basis in July. "Annual house price growth remained below 1% for the ninth month in a row in August, at 0.6%. While house price growth has remained fairly stable, there have been mixed signals from the property market in recent months," said Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner.
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Japan's industrial production and unemployment rate both beat expectations in July, while inflation in Tokyo eased, according to data released on Friday. The Statistics Bureau of Japan showed unemployment rate in July was 2.2%, improved from 2.3% in June and beating expectations, as cited by FXStreet, for a rise to 2.4%. Meanwhile, industrial production rose 0.7% year-on-year, while on a monthly basis, production in July rose 1.3%, said the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry. This beat expectations for an annual rise of 0.3%.
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President Donald Trump said US and Chinese trade officials were due to hold discussions on Thursday, days before Washington is set to raise tariffs on billions in Chinese goods. "There is a talk scheduled for today at a different level," Trump told Fox News Radio, without elaborating. He rebutted prior news reports sceptical of his claims that Beijing and Washington held talks by telephone last week. "Yes, they have been talking," he said. The US Trade Representative's office, which is leading the US negotiations with China, did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment. Earlier on Thursday, China's Commerce Ministry helped cheer stock markets by signalling that Beijing may not respond in kind to Trump's latest tariff increases and were still willing to negotiate.
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An increasingly menacing-looking Hurricane Dorian is threatening to broadside the US state of Florida over the Labour Day holiday weekend. Leaving lighter-than-expected damage in its wake in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the second hurricane of the 2019 season swirled towards the US, with forecasters warning it will draw energy from the warm, open waters as it closes in. The National Hurricane Centre said the Category two storm is expected to strengthen into a potentially catastrophic Category four with winds of 130mph and slam into the US on Monday somewhere between the Florida Keys and southern Georgia — a 500-mile stretch that reflected the high degree of uncertainty this far out. "If it makes landfall as a Category three or four hurricane, that's a big deal," said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. Trump cancelled his weekend trip to Poland and warned Florida residents to be prepared.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BARCLAYS CUTS HUNTING PRICE TARGET TO 600 (900) PENCE - 'EQUAL WEIGHT'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Building materials firm Grafton Group reported interim profit and revenue growth, despite a tough environment in the UK. Revenue for the six months to June rose 2% to GBP1.44 billion, with pretax profit climbing 5% to GBP88.2 million. Adjusted pretax profit was also 5% higher, at GBP90.9 million. Grafton increased the interim dividend by 8% to 6.5 pence per share. The UK business was held back by uncertainty over the UK's near-term economic prospects, but operations elsewhere did well, especially in Ireland and the Netherlands. Despite the UK issues, Dublin-based Grafton "looks to the future with confidence".
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Iron ore pellet maker Ferrexpo said an independent review into payments made to a charity in the Ukraine has found "some" of the funds could have been used inappropriately. The probe, Ferrexpo said, was unable to find an explanation for a number of discrepancies, but the company stressed there is no evidence any of its directors have been involved in the misuse of funding. "Whilst a significant amount of work has been undertaken by the committee and its advisers, it has not been possible to explain a number of discrepancies outlined in the 2018 annual report relating to the charity and its use of funds donated by Ferrexpo," said the iron ore pellet maker. "As a result, the committee has been unable to conclude as to the ultimate use of all of the funds by the charity, a third party. Indications therefore remain that some of the funds could have been misappropriated. The board is considering further steps in this regard."
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COMPANIES - OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Healthcare software and systems firm Emis Group reported interim results in line with expectations, with restructuring costs leading to a dip in profit. For the six months to June, Emis reported a pretax profit of GBP12.1 million, 4.0% lower year-on-year, though revenue rose 7% to GBP79.8 million. Emis increased the interim return to shareholders by 10% to 15.6p a share. Emis said its two main units, Health and Enterprise, both registered good sales and commercial performances. Overall, Emis said it is well-placed to meet medium-term revenue growth and margin improvement targets.
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Clipper Logistics is paying a final dividend of 6.5p for its year ended June, meaning the year's total is 16% higher than the year before at 9.7p. Clipper's pretax profit slipped 6.1% to GBP16.9 million, due to higher costs, but there was strong revenue growth of 15% to GBP460.2 million. The logistics firm achieved "significant" organic growth in the both the UK and Europe, it said. Clipper warned, however, that UK economic uncertainty "may well" have some impact in its new financial year, but the outlook is positive nonetheless.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Huawei Technologies' upcoming flagship Mate 30 smartphone will launch next month without key Google apps, creating a disadvantage for the Chinese tech giant hit by US sanctions. A Google spokesperson confirmed that the California firm, part of Alphabet, will not be able to deliver licensed applications such as Gmail, Maps and YouTube for the new device because of sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump. As a result, Huawei will be able to pre-load only the open-source Android operating system.
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Friday's Shareholder Meetings
Stagecoach Group
Gear4Music
Tex Holdings
Vela Technologies
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