6th Aug 2024 17:10
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London closed higher on Tuesday, as investors' nerves steadied following a rocky start to the week.
A sense of calm returned to global markets after fears of a US recession had shaken stocks on Monday.
This stemmed from the latest weak non-farm payrolls report, which followed a weak manufacturing reading, and an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate.
"Investors will have to wait until next week for significant economic releases from the US, with data on consumer sentiment, retail sales and inflation all due. These could help point towards whether the Federal Reserve will cut rates in September and how far they might go," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
Ahead of that, there will be Chinese trade data on Wednesday, where the market can see how the world's second-largest economy is holding up.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 18.46 points, 0.2%, at 8,026.69. The FTSE 250 ended 130.96 points, 0.7%, at 20,367.70, and the AIM All-Share closed up 11.05 points, 1.5%, at 759.67.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.2% at 800.20, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.5% at 17,821.61, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.9% at 16,675.90.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended down 0.1%.
In foreign exchange markets, the dollar regained some ground, after weakening as traders increased their forecasts for interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2711 at the London equities close Tuesday, down compared to USD1.2753 at the close on Monday. The euro stood at USD1.0930, down against USD1.0946. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY144.70, up compared to JPY142.41 late Monday.
According to CME's FedWatch tool, the market is pricing the odds of a 50 basis point cut at September's meeting at 76%, which is down slightly from 94% on Monday. However, it is up markedly from last week's view that a 25bp cut was the most likely option.
Brown Brothers Harriman commented: "The dollar is recovering as some calm returns to the markets. [The dollar index] is trading higher near 103.13 after two straight down days."
Meanwhile, Scope Markets' analyst Joshua Mahoney noted: "With many looking towards the Japanese yen as the key element underpinning the recent global declines, today saw a meeting between the Japanese government and BoJ as they sought to address the volatility seen throughout markets. For now, we are yet to see any particular shift in approach from the BoJ, but any weakening in the hawkish rhetoric could provide a boost for equity markets given the positive impact it could have on USDJPY."
Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.8%, the S&P 500 index up 1.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.3%.
In the FTSE 100, Melrose and Scottish Mortgage rose 8.2% and 5.0% respectively, clawing back Monday's losses.
WPP rose 1.3%, following a report that it is closing in on a deal to sell a controlling stake in financial communications company FGS Global.
The Financial Times said the London-based advertising group could sell the business to private equity group KKR & Co for about USD800 million.
The announcement could come as early as Wednesday, the FT said, when the group is due to report its next financial results, citing three people close to the talks.
InterContinental Hotels rose 0.8%
The Berkshire, England-based hotel operator said revenue in the first half of the year was USD2.32 billion, up 4.3% from USD2.23 billion a year before. Pretax profit, however, fell 17% to USD472 million from USD567 million.
IHG explained that pretax profit includes a system fund and reimbursables loss of USD10 million compared with a USD87 million profit a year ago. This was driven by a planned reduction of prior system fund surplus.
"The Chinese market remains an Achilles heel, as it does for several Western businesses, but otherwise InterContinental Hotels is performing pretty robustly... Recently appointed CEO Elie Maalouf has made ambitious noises about growing in new markets and expanding its brand portfolio – he will now be judged on delivery," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould.
On the other hand, Rightmove lost 4.8%.
The Milton Keynes, England-based online property portal said market conditions in the lettings market remain "fluid", as it disclosed the contract with lettings agent OpenRent will not be renewed.
Rightmove said the deal with OpenRent will end at the start of September after they failed to agree renewal terms.
Rightmove said OpenRent accounted for less than 8% of its lettings listings in July.
In the FTSE 250, Domino's Pizza fell 4.6%.
Domino's Pizza said pretax profit fell 35% to GBP59.4 million in the first half of 2024 from GBP91.5 million a year prior. Underlying pretax profit however edged up 0.8% to GBP51.3 million from GBP50.9 million.
The company upped its interim dividend by 6.1% to 3.5 pence per share from 3.3p a year prior.
Separately, Domino's announced a new GBP20 million share buyback programme, aimed at reducing the company's share capital.
"The company has tried to signal some confidence in the outlook with a GBP20 million share buyback programme but the market appears unconvinced by this for now and Domino's really needs to serve up a strong second half to win investors round," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould.
In commodity markets, Brent oil was quoted at USD76.46 a barrel at the London equities close Tuesday, rising a little from USD75.60 late Monday. Gold was quoted at USD2,386.99 an ounce, down against USD2,418.90.
In Wednesday's UK corporate calendar, there's half-year numbers from Coca-Cola Europacific partners and Coca-Cola HBC, WPP, Glencore and Legal & General also release half-year results.
The economic calendar for Wednesday has Chinese trade data overnight, German industrial production and UK house prices at 0700 BST.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News deputy news editor, Global services
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