6th Sep 2024 08:35
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened lower on Friday, as the market prepares for jobs data from the US following an ADP report on Thursday.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 46.25 points, or 0.6%, at 8,196.43. The FTSE 250 was down 36.18 points, or 0.2%, at 20,726.32, and the AIM All-Share was down 8.14 points, or 1.1%, at 750.98.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.7% at 819.72, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.4% at 18,252.29, and the Cboe Small Companies was unchanged at 16,891.36.
"Mini good news is that the labour productivity increased and the unit costs decreased significantly in Q2. All in all, the latest data supports the idea that it's time for the Federal Reserve to start cutting the interest rates. The question is: by how much? It will depend on today's data – according to many. In the aftermath of soft job openings and ADP reports, the pricing of a 100bp cut for the remainder of the year remains unchanged. But the probability of a 50bp cut in September is gaining traction this week," said Swissquote Bank's Ipek Ozkardeskaya.
"Many investors believe that today’s job figures could be pivotal in determining whether the Fed will cut rates by 25 or 50 basis points at its meeting later this month. Why this data is so important? Above all, it is because the Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that a further weakness in the jobs market is undesired. That's obviously a good reason for investors to put a lot of weight on the jobs data."
Meanwhile, In local economic news, UK house prices rose in August at the fastest annual rate in nearly two years, data published by Halifax showed Friday.
UK house prices jumped 4.3% year-on-year in August, accelerating from 2.4% growth in July and the strongest rate since November 2022. July's annual growth was upwardly revised from a previously reported 2.3%. It beat FXStreet-cited market consensus of 4.2%.
On a monthly basis, UK house price growth decelerated to 0.3% in August from 0.9% in July, the earlier month's growth upwardly revised from a previously reported 0.8%. August's growth was higher than consensus of 0.2%.
The average UK house price stood at GBP292,505 in August, up from GBP280,372 a year ago and from GBP291,585 in July.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.1%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3178 early on Friday in London, compared to USD1.3160 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at USD1.1117, up against USD1.1082. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY142.32, down compared to JPY143.94.
In the FTSE 100, Berkeley Group was down 0.2%.
The home construction company noted a "stable" start to the year, and said it remains on track to achieve pre-tax earnings guidance for the full year of GBP525 million. Berkeley's financial year ends on April 30. Sales contracts have helped to secure 90% of these earnings already, the firm added.
Pre-tax profits for the year are expected to be weighted towards the first half, similarly to last year, and operating margin will therefore "be slightly ahead of [Berkeley's] long-term range", at between 17.5% to 19.5%.
In the FTSE 250, PureTech Health was down 1.0%.
Vor Bio, its clinical stage cell and genome engineering company, has received new clinical data from its ongoing Phase 1/2 VBP101 study.
The study looks at patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia receiving trem-cel followed by Mylotarg. Recent data demonstrated reliable engraftment, shielding from Mylotarg on-target toxicity, a broadened Mylotarg therapeutic window, and early evidence of patient benefit.
Vor Bio's Chief Medical Officer Eyal Attar said: "We are encouraged by this data and the potential benefit that trem-cel in combination with Mylotarg may offer to patients in a disease that has extremely poor outcomes even after transplant. With this data, we plan to explore a registrational trial while we continue to pursue other synergistic opportunities for Vor Bio's platform."
Elsewhere, Glenveagh Properties lost 2.3%.
The firm announced a share buyback programme for a maximum consideration of up to EUR50 million. Starting later on Friday, the buyback will continue until December 31, and is intended to reduce share capital.
Next 15 shed 48%.
The public relations agencies company said that a contract with Mach49's largest customer has not been renewed after its initial three-year term and will now end this year. This contract had been expected to contribute just over GBP80 million of revenue in financial 2026, which means forecasts for that year will need to be adjusted.
Additionally, the group has continued to see "an ongoing weakness in spend" from its technology customers, as well as a reduction in revenues from its public sector clients. As a result of these factors and the contract ending which will impact the last month of the fiscal year, Next 15 now believes financial 2025 revenue will be lower than planned, and profits to be materially below management expectations.
In Asia on Friday the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.4%.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended mainly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.5%, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.3%.
Republican White House candidate Donald Trump unveiled a plan Thursday to install tech billionaire Elon Musk at the head of a government efficiency commission to eliminate "trillions" of dollars in wasteful spending.
Trump told business executives at a speech in New York that Musk – the world's richest man, according to Forbes – would oversee a "complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government" in a second Trump administration.
"As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months. This will save trillions of dollars," he said.
Trump – whose administration oversaw an USD8.2 trillion rise in the national debt, almost twice as much as President Joe Biden's – has not publicly identified any of the savings and experts are sceptical about the size of the savings.
Brent oil was quoted at USD72.87 a barrel early in London on Friday, down from USD73.01 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted at USD2,518.50 an ounce, up against USD2,505.80.
Still to come on Friday's economic calendar, there is plenty of data from Europe, including GDP and unemployment from the eurozone. Later in the day, there is average weekly hours and unemployment from the US.
By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News senior reporter
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