21st Feb 2025 08:53
(Alliance News) - Stocks in Europe started the day mixed on Friday, with the FTSE 100 set for a weekly decline, in largely lifeless trade to kick off the final day of the week as eyes turn to PMI readings in Europe and beyond.
It was a better day in Asia, however, with Hong Kong-listed tech shares jumping. Alibaba jumped 15%, while Tencent also joined in on the fun, adding 6.2%. The wider Hang Seng Index jumped 4.0%.
The FTSE 100 index fell just 0.09 of a point at 8,662.88. It is down around 0.8% so far this week. The FTSE 250 rose 59.77 points, 0.3%, at 20,672.54, and the AIM All-Share rose 3.45 points, 0.5%, at 719.99.
The Cboe UK 100 rose 0.1% to 867.95, the Cboe UK 250 rose 0.4% to 17,985.38, and the Cboe Small Companies shed 0.9% at 15,735.82.
In Paris, the CAC 40 climbed 0.3%. Frankfurt's DAX 40 fell 0.1%.
Sterling rose to USD1.2665 on Friday morning from USD1.2638 at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. The euro climbed to USD1.0481 from USD1.0470. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY150.54 from JPY149.64.
"EUR/USD is testing the USD1.05 level, with a break potentially targeting USD1.0540. Today's purchasing managers' indices will be key—continued signs of economic stabilization could bolster sentiment toward the common currency," Convera analyst Boris Kovacevic commented.
"Uncertainty remains high ahead of Germany's general election later this week, but the euro has benefited from broad dollar weakness and soft US data."
UK retail sales topped expectations at the start of the year, numbers from the Office for National Statistics showed.
Retail sales volumes surged by 1.7% in January from December, well-ahead of the FXStreet cited consensus of 0.3%. In December, retail sales had fallen 0.6%, the reading downwardly revised from a 0.3% fall.
On an annual basis, retail sales rose 1.0% last month, easing from a 2.8% rise in December. Growth of 0.6% was expected for January, so the latest reading topped consensus.
"However, there was a decline in non-food store sales volumes, which fell by 1.3% over the month. There was also a fall in the amount spent online, by 1.7%. This comes as no surprise following the inflation figures of 3% that were seen last week. It further highlights the lack of spending power consumers currently have, as they act more cautiously with buying non-essential goods," Trade Nation analyst David Morrison said.
The UK notched up a record government borrowing surplus in January thanks largely to self-assessed tax returns, according to separate ONS figures.
The Office for National Statistics said there was a public sector net borrowing surplus of GBP15.44 billion last month.
It is more than the surplus seen a year ago of GBP14.69 billion, and is the largest since monthly records began in 1993.
The yen struggled despite an acceleration in Japanese inflation. 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.
Exness analyst Christopher Tahir commented: "With inflation exceeding the BoJ's 2% target, speculation is growing that the central bank may adjust its policy. Higher interest rates could help prevent further depreciation of the yen, which has been strained by prolonged monetary easing."
Standard Chartered shares rose 4.7% as it announced a USD1.5 billion share buyback. Annual profit rose and its top line grew, but relative to consensus, some numbers for both the final quarter and for the whole year were mixed.
"Hopefully, the market will look through reported PBT miss and like the better-than-expected underlying income performance and shareholder distributions, along with comments around the positive start to the new year," analysts at Shore Capital Markets commented.
StanChart's numbers round off the large-cap banking earnings season. The share price response to earnings from the lender's fellow FTSE 100 constituents were mixed. NatWest, Barclays and HSBC fell in the wake of their earnings, but they did come into the reports with sizeable recent gains.
Lloyds, which made a more modest advance recently than its peers, rose following its earnings on Thursday. It had 4.9% on Thursday and another 0.9% in morning trade on Friday.
HSBC rose 0.4%. The UK's competition watchdog said it was among the banking firms fined a total of over GBP100 million over collusion in gilt trade in the UK.
HSBC, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada have agreed to settle separate cases. Deutsche Bank has immunity for reporting its conduct, which began in 2009 and ended in 2013.
The Competition & Markets Authority said individual traders at each of the banks took part in private Bloomberg chatrooms in which they shared sensitive information relating to the pricing of UK bonds and details of transactions of gilts on specific dates.
Poolbeg Pharma slumped 22% on AIM. It said it is "surprised and disappointed" by Hookipa Pharma opting against making a bid for the company.
In a brief statement late Thursday, Hookipa Pharma, a Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company with a USD21.8 million market capitalisation, said "it does not intend to make an offer for Poolbeg".
"Non-binding" and "non-exclusive" talks between the two firms were announced in early January.
Under the proposed terms announced in January, shareholders in Poolbeg would have received 0.03 of a Hookipa share for each Poolbeg share.
Poolbeg Executive Chair Cathal Friel said Friday: "We were surprised and disappointed to hear of Hookipa's decision to withdraw from the combination discussions. Throughout this process, we have seen strong interest in the potential of POLB 001 and we continue to be focused on maximising the potential of our in-house programmes and exploring new opportunities to generate value for our shareholders."
Biome Technologies plunged 62% as it proposed an exit from London's junior market. The regulatory and cost "burden" of an AIM listing, as well as the likely challenge in raising "significant equity through public markets" were reasons the bioplastics producer gave.
A barrel of Brent fell to USD76.10 early Friday, from USD76.83 at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. Gold traded at USD2,920.32 an ounce, down from USD2,945.48.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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