24th Oct 2018 07:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are set to open higher on Wednesday, following a sharp decline on Tuesday, with Barclays reporting a fall in profit in the first nine months of 2018, while smaller lender Metro Bank's earnings rose significantly. "After a frightful sell-off in the previous session, equities are on the rebound today. We expect the big swings in the market to continue," said London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler."Flows into safe havens also eased with the US dollar moving higher versus the yen overnight, a sign that this shake out could be over. Sentiment is clearly very fragile at the moment meaning that this is unlikely to be the last erratic session," he added. IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 50.09 points higher at 7,005.30 on Wednesday, after it fell to its lowest level since late March on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 1.2%, or 87.59 points at 6,955.21 on Tuesday.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2974 early Wednesday, slightly lower compared to USD1.2982 at the London equities close on Tuesday.On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May will meet Tory MPs, who are concerned about her Brexit plans. The meeting follows fresh revelations about the Government's plans for a no-deal Brexit, with alternative measures to secure supplies of food and medicines from the continent being investigated in case of chaos on the English Channel crossing.And in developments which will cause further unease among Tory Brexiteers, leaked Cabinet papers obtained by The Times indicated the transition period during which the UK will remain tied to Brussels could turn into a "long-running" arrangement lasting years.In the early company news, Barclays said pretax profit for the nine-month period ended September decreased 9.6% to GBP3.12 billion from GBP3.45 billion a year before.The lender's income was flat at GBP16.06 billion with net operating income up 6.6% to GBP15.24 billion from GBP14.29 billion.Barclays explained it had additional charges in the first nine months of GBP2.15 billion, up from GBP824 million the year before.These include litigation and conduct charges related to the lender's GBP1.4 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice over residential mortgage-backed securities and GBP400 million of charges for payment protection insurance in the first quarter.Excluding these litigation and conduct charges, Barclays pretax profit increased 53% to GBP5.27 billion from GBP3.45 billion the year before.In the FTSE 250, Metro Bank reported 41% revenue growth in the nine months to September 30 to GBP294.8 million. Underlying pretax profit multiplied to GBP39.2 million from GBP13.2 million, while statutory pretax profit jumped to GBP25.1 million from GBP7.8 million. At the end of the period, the bank's assets stood at GBP20.57 billion, up 41% year-on-year, while its loan to deposit ratio grew to 89% from 80%. Its Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio remained robust at 15.7% as at September-end. "We delivered double-digit growth in deposits, record lending growth year-on-year and for the fourth successive quarter exceeded GBP1 billion in net lending," said Chief Executive Craig Donaldson.Back in FTSE 100, gold miner Fresnillo and copper producer Antofagasta both cut their annual guidance, despite improvements in production.Fresnillo reported a 6.3% annual rise in silver production in the three months to the end of September to 15.5 million tonnes, while lead production also rose by 4.8% to 13,076 tonnes. Zinc production jumped nearly by third to 22,935 tonnes from 17,688 tonnes mined a year ago.Although gold production decreased by 3.5% to 225,202 ounces year-on-year, it still beat the miner's expectations. As a result, Fresnillo upgraded its annual guidance for gold production. It now expects the output of gold to achieve between 920,000 and 940,000 ounces, up from a range of 900,000 to 930,000 ounces anticipated earlier. However, Fresnillo is now guiding silver production between 62.0 and 64.5 million ounces, down from a range of 64.5 to 67.5 million ounces forecasted before, due to lower-than-expected ore grade at Saucito mine in Mexico and slightly lower-than-expected ore throughput.Antofagasta also narrowed its guidance, despite an increase in copper and gold production, which improved by 15% and 21%, respectively.In the three months to the end of September, gold output grew to 48,100 tonnes from 39,700 tonnes, with copper production rising to 188,300 tonnes from 163,200 tonnes. The miner now expects to produce between 705,000 and 725,000 tonnes of copper in the full year 2018. At the end of July, it anticipated copper output in a range of 705,000 to 740,000 tonnes.In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down 0.5%, the S&P 500 shedding 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.4% lower.On Tuesday, the US State Department said it identified some of the individuals who killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi and is looking to apply sanctions against them. "We have identified at least some of the individuals responsible, including those in the intelligence services, the royal court, the Foreign Ministry and other Saudi ministries who we suspect to have been involved in Khashoggi's death," said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 closed up 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 1.0% and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 0.2% higher.The economic events calendar on Wednesday has PMI readings from France, Germany, the eurozone and US at 0815 BST, 0830 BST, 0900 BST and 1445 BST. There also are UK mortgage approvals figures at 0930 BST, while the Bank of Canada announces its interest rate decision at 1500 BST.Related Shares:
BarclaysAntofagastaMetro BankFresnilloAntofag.5%pr