23rd Jul 2015 06:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are called to open higher Thursday, rebounding from heavy losses on Wednesday, amid another busy day of UK and international company updates and with UK retail sales data also due in the morning.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open higher at 6,705.3. The index closed down 1.5% at 6,667.34 Wednesday with London's heavily-weighted resource sector leading declines as world commodity prices continued their slump. Disappointing earnings outlook from Apple also weighed on tech stocks, in particular ARM Holdings, which closed down 6.6% on Wednesday.
Ahead of the equities open, the gold price is holding steady but is still under USD1,100 an ounce mark. The metal has been in focus this week following the steep drop seen over the weekend to a new five-year low of USD1,073.40 an ounce. Gold currently trades at USD1,098.20 an ounce.
Greece cleared another hurdle and stepped closer to its bailout after the government approved the second set of reform measures early Thursday. The reforms, which is the final requirement before the country can start the bailout negotiations with its creditors, included lifting of liquidity of banks, deposit security and renewing of the judicial system. In the 300-seat parliament, 230 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, with support for the ruling party coming from the pro-euro opposition parties.
UK retail sales are the highlight of the economic calendar on Thursday. Month-on-month, economists expect sales to rise 0.3% in June, slightly accelerating from the 0.2% seen in May. On an annual basis, sales are expected to increase 4.9% in June, compared to 4.6% in May.
On Wall Street Wednesday, the DJIA closed down 0.4%, the S&P 500 ended down 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite ended off 0.7%.
In Asia Thursday, the Nikkei in Tokyo closed up 0.4%, the Hang Seng trades up 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite is up 2.2%.
Unilever reported a drop in profit in the first half of 2015, although revenue grew in each of its Personal Care, Foods, Refreshment and Home Care divisions.
The FTSE 100-listed maker of consumer products including Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Lipton tea, Vaseline and Dove beauty products, and Persil washing power, reported a 14% drop in pretax profit to EUR3.6 billion from EUR4.2 billion in the first half, although revenue grew 12% to EUR27 billion from EUR24.1 billion. Both are at reported currencies. At constant currencies, revenue grew 1.8% and pretax profit fell 21%.
SABMiller reported a drop in reported net producer revenue in the first quarter of its financial year, but said it grew on a constant currency basis, as volume growth was mixed in different geographic regions.
The brewer, which makes Grolsch, Peroni and Coors beers, said that reported net producer revenue in the quarter to June 30 declined 10% due to the depreciation of some currencies against the US dollar, but grew 3% on a constant currency basis.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group said it has struck a GBP400 million deal to sell a portfolio of loans to an entity managed by Deutsche Bank and funds affiliated with US private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The bank said it will receive GBP400 million in cash from the sale of the portfolio, with the proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes.
Meanwhile, Britvic announced a share placing to fund the purchase of a Brazilian soft-drinks maker.
In the economic calendar, there are UK mortgage approvals and retail sales at 0930 BST, before the Confederation of British Industry trade survey results at 1100 BST. Later in the day are US initial and continuing jobless claims at 1330 BST, and the US Conference Board leading indicator at 1500 BST, alongside eurozone consumer confidence.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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