21st Feb 2025 06:56
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open slightly lower on Friday, following declines on Wall Street overnight, though tech shares in Hong Kong rallied.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 4.9 points lower, 0.1%, at 8,658.07 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed 49.56 points lower, 0.6%, at 8,662.97 on Thursday. It has fallen 0.8% so far this week.
In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.0%, the S&P 500 shed 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%.
The economic calendar for Friday has UK retail sales figures at 0700 GMT, a slew of composite PMI readings in Europe, the UK, and the US, and existing home sales data in the US at 1500 GMT.
According to FXStreet cited consensus, UK retail sales are expected to have risen 0.3% monthly in January, after a 0.3% decline in December. Annual growth is expected to have eased to 0.6% from 3.6%.
Sterling rose to USD1.2661 on Friday morning from USD1.2638 at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. The euro climbed to USD1.0492 from USD1.0470. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY150.43 from JPY149.64.
A barrel of Brent fell to USD76.27 from USD76.83. Gold traded at USD2,930.01 an ounce, down from USD2,945.48.
Japanese inflation accelerated in January, further pressuring households as prices excluding fresh food rose 3.2% on-year, government data showed Friday.
The rate was the highest since June 2023, fuelling speculation over the timing of the Bank of Japan's next interest rate hike as it retreats from years of aggressive monetary easing to boost the moribund economy.
January's core consumer price index was above market expectations of a 3.1% rise, accelerating from 3.0% in December, the internal affairs ministry said.
Overall, inflation including volatile fresh food was up 4.0% on-year – among the highest in the G7 – speeding up from 3.6% in December and 2.9% in November.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.3%, while in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong jumped 3.4%. Alibaba jumped 13% on well-received earnings from Thursday.
Already out on the corporate front on Friday, Standard Chartered reported annual earnings growth and the lender announced a new share buyback. Relative to consensus, numbers were mixed.
For 2024, StanChart's reported pretax profit increased 18% to USD6.01 billion from USD5.09 billion. Reported operating income increased 8.5% to USD19.54 billion from USD18.02 billion.
Underlying operating income rose 13% to USD19.70 billion from USD17.38 billion. Underlying operating income beat consensus of USD19.32 billion, though pretax profit fell short of the market view of USD6.20 billion.
Fourth-quarter underlying operating income rose 20% on-year to USD4.83 billion from USD4.02 billion. Pretax profit fell 30% to USD800 million from USD1.14 billion. Hurting its quarterly bottom line was the non-repeat of a USD262 million gain on the sale of its Aviation Finance business reported a year prior.
Quarterly underlying operating income beat consensus of USD4.46 billion, pretax profit fell short of a USD983 million forecast. Underlying pretax profit before impairment rose 34% to USD1.56 billion from USD1.16 billion, beating consensus of USD1.36 billion.
"We produced strong results in 2023, continuing to demonstrate the value of our franchise and delivering our financial objective of a 10% RoTE for the year. We will now build on this success, taking action to deliver sustainably higher returns with a focus on driving income growth and improving operational leverage and targeting 12% RoTE in 2026," CEO Bill Winters said.
StanCHart announced a USD1.5 billion share buyback and a 28 cents final dividend. It brought its total dividend 37 cents, up 37%. Its final dividend was raised by a third from 21 cents.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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