6th Feb 2017 16:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - It was a largely uneventful day on the London stock market on Monday, with shares drifting slightly lower, while Randgold Resources pleased the market with a sweetened dividend and upbeat full-year results.
The FTSE 100 ended the day down 0.2%, or 16.15 points, at 7,172.15. The FTSE 250 ended down 0.2%, or 34.30 points, at 18,377.37, and the AIM All-Share up 0.3%, or 2.46 points, at 896.09.
The BATS UK 100 closed down 0.3% at 12,132.81, the BATS 250 ended down 0.2% at 16,710.44, and the BATS Small Companies index up 0.2% at 10,875.33.
In Europe, the French CAC 40 finished down 1.0% and the German DAX 30 down 1.2%.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said recent resilience shown by the euro area economy in the face of several negative shocks suggests it is on the right track, but it still requires monetary policy stimulus to bring inflation to target in a sustainable way.
"Our December decisions strike a balance between our growing confidence that the euro area's economic prospects are firming up, and - at the same time - the lack of a clear sign of sustained convergence of inflation rates towards the desired level," Draghi said while addressing lawmakers in the European Parliament in Brussels.
In December, the bank left all its three interest rates unchanged for a sixth consecutive session and retained its asset purchases of EUR80 billion a month until March, but decided to reduce the size beyond that to EUR60 billion a month till the end of this year.
Draghi's comments weighed on the euro. The currency traded the dollar at USD1.0733 at the European equities close on Monday, compared to USD1.0780 at the same time on Monday.
The pound also fell versus the dollar on Monday, trading at USD1.2450 compared to USD1.2498 on Friday.
On Wall Street at the London stock market close, the Dow 30 was flat, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite flat.
Randgold Resources led gainers in the FTSE 100, up 3.9%. The African miner raised its dividend for 2016 by more than half after a strong financial performance during the year and vowed to keep a hefty cash balance for new projects while maintaining future payouts.
Gold production in 2016 was 1.25 million ounces, the very bottom of Randgold's 1.25 million to 1.30 million ounce target range, rising from 1.21 million ounces in 2015. Gold sales rose to 1.24 million ounces from 1.21 million ounces, defying analysts expectations for a year-on-year drop.
Randgold increased its total dividend for 2016 by 52% on the back of the results, paying USD1.00 per share compared to the 66 cent dividend payout in 2015.
Fellow precious metals miner Fresnillo ended up 1.4%.
The price of gold was also supportive, trading at USD1,228.25 an ounce at the London equities close, compared to USD1,218.93 at the close on Friday.
Brent oil slipped to USD56.14 a barrel at the close on Monday, versus USD56.93 a barrel at the same time on Friday.
Ryanair Holdings maintained its full-year guidance but with a very cautious outlook for the final months of its financial year, as the Irish budget airline reported a decline in profit for its third quarter.
Ryanair said it still expects full-year profit after tax to be EUR1.30 billion to EUR1.35 billion, but said this guidance is heavily dependent on no unforeseen "security events" taking place in the final months of its financial year, ending March 31.
The airline added that, looking to its 2018 financial year, pricing will continue to be "challenging" in a very competitive budget carrier market, but it intends to continue increasing capacity and benefiting from lower unit costs.
Ryanair, a vocal proponent of the UK remaining in the European Union, also said there remains "significant uncertainty" about what a so-called 'hard' Brexit would entail. This uncertainty, it said, will continue to present a challenge for its business in the final months of its current financial year and into financial 2018. The stock closed the day down 3.5%.
Gem Diamonds closed as the worst performer in the FTSE All-Share, down 6.3%, after the company said full-year production from its flagship Letseng mine remained broadly flat from the previous year, while output from the Ghaghoo mine more than halved.
The diamond miner said the Letseng mine in Lesotho produced 108,206 carats in 2016, in line with guidance and a touch below the 108,579 carats recovered in 2015, with the average grade not moving year-on-year at 1.63 grammes of gold per tonne.
The mine delivered seven diamonds that sold for "more than USD1 million" over the year. The miner said the operation recovered "fewer large special diamonds than expected".
At Ghaghoo, which typically produces lower-value stones, Gem Diamonds reported a 55% production drop in 2016 to 40,976 carats from 91,499 carats, with grade dropping by one-third to 18.9 carats per hundred tonnes from 28 carats.
In the economic calendar for Tuesday, German industrial production is at 0700 GMT, French trade balances are at 0745 GMT, and the Halifax UK house prices index is at 0830 GMT. US trade balances are at 1330 GMT, the US Redbook index at 1355 GMT, US JOLTS Job Openings at 1500 GMT and US consumer credit at 2000 GMT.
The latest UK grocery market share data from Kantar Worldpanel will be released at 0800 GMT.
The main event in the UK corporate calendar is full-year results from oil and gas giant BP. Analysts are expecting earnings to have more than halved for BP, with forecasts pointing toward a weak end to the year.
There are also full-year results from online financial derivatives trading platform Plus500 and educational IT and resources company RM. Housebuilder Bellway reports half-year results, as does property regeneration company St Modwen Properties, and wealth manager and employee benefits firm Mattioli Woods. Transport operator Firstgroup issues a trading statement.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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