20th Oct 2020 07:50
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are called lower on Tuesday morning, with the likelihood of a pre-election stimulus deal in the US looking slim, ahead of a deadline imposed by the US House speaker and key Democrat, Nancy Pelosi.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 20.25 points lower at 5,864.40. The blue-chip index closed down 34.93 points, or 0.6%, at 5,884.65 on Monday.
The DAX 30 and CAC 40 indices in Frankfurt and Paris are called 0.5% and 0.4% lower.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2953 Tuesday morning in London, down from USD1.3000 at the London equities close on Monday.
The euro stood at USD1.1775 early Tuesday, down from USD1.1785 at the European equities close Monday.
On the London Stock Exchange, Reckitt Benckiser said it is on track for "low double-digit like-for-like net revenue growth for the full year", as it continued to enjoy a boost in demand during the third-quarter.
The household goods firm behind cleaning products such as Dettol and Cillit Bang, has seen demand for its disinfectants rise due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
In the third quarter, total sales climbed 6.3% to GBP3.51 billion, or 13% on a like-for-like basis. Total hygiene sales alone were 12% higher, jumping 20% like-for-like. This was "driven by Finish and Air Wick", RB explained.
Health sales rose 6.9%, or 12% like-for-like, amid "ongoing strong demand for Dettol".
Mid-cap housebuilder Bellway said its revenue in the year ended July 31 dropped by nearly a third, "significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic".
Revenue fell 31% to GBP2.23 billion and pretax profit was down 64% to GBP236.7 million.
Bellway noted its number of housing completions plunged 31% to 7,522 during a year which was hit by the Covid-19 lockdown that brought the housing sector to a halt.
Bellway resumed dividend payments, having skipped an interim payout, offering a 50.0 pence final dividend, down from 100.00p the year before. However, this left its full-year dividend down 67% to 50.0 pence per share from 150.4p, but the housebuilder promised to increase dividends over time as its earnings recover.
Promisingly, it has seen an "encouragingly strong start to trading in the new financial year", with house reservations up 31% to 239 per week.
IT infrastructure products and services firm Softcat's revenue climbed 8.6% to GBP1.08 billion over the same 12-month period, with pretax profit rising 10% to GBP93.6 million.
Softcat noted that it ended the year by extended its quarterly growth in "revenue, gross profit and operating profit to sixty consecutive quarters".
It raised its total ordinary dividend by 11% to 16.6 pence and proposed a special payout of 7.6p, though this is down 53% from a year earlier.
Elsewhere among London mid-caps, Trainline said Chief Executive Officer Clare Gilmartin will round off a seven-year stint in the post in February, though she will remain with the rail and coach booking platform as a senior advisor.
Chief Operating Officer Jody Ford will succeed her.
Early Tuesday in Australia, blue-chip miner BHP left its production and unit cost guidance largely unchanged following its first-quarter. The stock closed down 1.6% in Sydney.
Petroleum output in the three months ended September fell 9%, energy coal dropped 17% and copper slipped 4%.
There was an 8% rise in the production of iron ore, metallurgical coal and nickel, however.
All production and unit cost guidance remains unchanged for the 2021 financial year, except for Cerrejon production guidance which is under review due to an ongoing strike.
The company has shelved expansion plans at its Olympic Dam copper and silver asset but the Jansen potash asset in Canada remains on track for final investment decision in the middle of the 2021 calendar year.
In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.2% Tuesday, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.1%. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended down 0.4%.
"In the US, a lack of progress on stimulus talks weighed on sentiment. On Sunday, House Speaker Pelosi imposed a 48-hour deadline for a stimulus deal ahead of the election," AxiCorp analyst Stephen Innes said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 1.4% on Monday. The S&P 500 lost 1.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.7%.
"And with no shortage of uncertainly overshadowing the markets, investors continue to tack cautiously ahead of the final presidential debate."
Early company news on Tuesday also featured M&A action. The world's second-largest chipmaker, South Korea's SK Hynix, is to buy Intel's flash memory chip operation in a deal worth USD9 billion. SK Hynix is bidding to bolster its position against Samsung.
In a regulatory filing, the chipmaker said it will acquire Intel's "entire NAND business division excluding the Optane division" for KRW10.3 trillion.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY105.51, firm from JPY105.45 late Monday.
Brent was changed hands at USD42.58 a barrel on Tuesday morning, down from USD42.92.
An ounce of gold fetched USD1,903.07, down from USD1,908.70.
Still the come on Tuesday are eurozone current account figures at 0900 BST.
Already out, data from Destatis showed German producer prices slipped 1.0% annually in September, though climbed 0.4% monthly. FXStreet-compiled consensus had expected a 0.1% monthly decline and a 1.4% annual drop.
In August, the annual decline had been 1.2%.
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