2nd Oct 2018 08:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - Further losses for Royal Mail on Tuesday, in addition to a tumble for Ferguson, weighed on the FTSE 100 in early trade.Attention in the UK, however, lies on the latest UK construction Purchasing Managers' Index due at 0930 BST.The FTSE 100 was down 0.3%, or 18.73 points, at 7,476.94 in early trade. The FTSE 250 was also down 0.3%, or 56.33 points, at 20,344.88 while the AIM All-Share was down 0.2% at 1,099.20.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 12,685.00. The Cboe UK 250 was similarly 0.3% lower at 18,464.71 and the Cboe UK Small Companies flat at 12,137.64.Focus in the UK is on the construction PMI reading for September, seen slipping to 52.5 from 52.9 last month. The construction data comes following Monday's manufacturing beat, which showed the sector's pace of expansion unexpectedly accelerated in September.Analysts at Lloyds Banking expect another surprise to the upside on Tuesday."We expect a rise in the 'headline' index to 54.0 from 52.9. After a weak first quarter (due in part to March's very cold weather) construction activity appears to have picked up, led by housing and commercial activity," said Lloyds.Elsewhere in the UK, eyes will remain on the Conservative party conference where former foreign secretary Boris Johnson will give a speech at a fringe event. In what will likely be seen as a pitch to replace Theresa May as leader, Johnson will not only restate his opposition to the prime minister's handling of Brexit but call on Tories to focus on law and order, tax cuts and house-building in order to defeat Labour.The economic events calendar on Tuesday also has eurozone producer prices at 1000 BST. Over in mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.7% and 0.8% lower, respectively. In London, Royal Mail continued to deepen Monday's losses - having closed down 18% following an afternoon profit warning - quoted 7.4% lower in early trade on Tuesday.The company on Monday revised its adjusted operating profit before transformation costs down to between GBP500 million and GBP550 million for its financial year ended March. This compares to a GBP694 million adjusted operating profit the year before.Cost savings targets have been dropped to GBP100 million from GBP230 million with plans to implement "a range of short-term cost actions" being enacted.JPMorgan cut its rating on the postal services company to Underweight from Neutral following the profit warning.Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the recent share price fall has put Royal Mail in pole relegation position for the next index review in December."Royal Mail is emerging from a difficult period of industrial negotiation and relations with the unions are no doubt strained. It looks like the resolutions to those problems have not yet delivered the desired results, but we'll need to wait until the half year statement in November for a fuller picture," said Khalaf.Also tumbling in early trade was Ferguson, down 5.0% as revenue rose though it saw challenging conditions in the UK.For the year to the end of July, pretax profit fell to USD1.19 billion from USD1.42 billion the year before, due to a USD122 million impairment in its holding in Meier Tobler Group, which saw difficult trading conditions and has suspended dividends until 2020.Trading profit for the year rose by 15% to USD1.51 billion from USD1.31 billion, due to strong performances in the US and Canada & Central Europe regions, the former due to a strong residential, commercial and industrial market.Revenue was USD20.75 billion, up 7.6% from USD19.28 billion the prior year.Although the US and Canada & Central Europe regions have performed well, UK trading profit continued to drop in a challenging market, Ferguson said, as a restructuring programme continues in that segment.Shares in Royal Dutch Shell edged higher, with 'A' and 'B' shares up 0.3%, after taking a final investment decision on LNG Canada.LNG Canada is a major liquified natural gas project in Kitimat, in which Shell has a 40% working interest. With LNG Canada's joint venture participants also having taken a final investment decision, construction is to start immediately, with first liquified natural gas expected "before the middle of the next decade".Shell said its 40% share of the project's capital cost is within its capital investment guidance of USD25 billion to USD30 billion per year.In other oil news on Tuesday, Brent oil hit its best level since late 2014 overnight of USD85.42 a barrel. Fellow oil major BP was 0.5% higher in early trade, the second best performer in the FTSE 100.In Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.1%. Markets in China are closed this week for the National Day Golden Week holiday, though the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong opened from Monday's holiday to trade 2.5% lower on Tuesday.Related Shares:
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