18th Jan 2022 07:50
(Alliance News) -Â Stock prices in London are set to pull back on Tuesday with investors digesting the latest UK jobs data.
The unemployment rate unexpectedly edged down to 4.1% in the three months to November, having been forecast by analysts to remain steady at 4.2%.
Annual growth in total pay - or including bonuses - was 4.2%, and regular pay, which strips out bonuses, rose 3.8%. These figures were as expected and marked a slowdown from the previous month.
The number of job vacancies in October to December 2021 rose to a new record of 1.2 million, an increase of 462,000 from its pre-coronavirus January to March 2020 level. There were 29.5 million payrolled employees in the UK in December, up 184,000 on November and over 400,000 above pre-virus levels.
"All regions are now above pre-coronavirus levels, with Scotland having the largest percentage increase on the month," the UK Office for National Statistics said.
Following the data, sterling was quoted at USD1.3634 early Tuesday, lower than USD1.3650 at the London equities close on Monday.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open down 11.03 points, or 0.1%, at 7,600.20 on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 closed up 68.28 points, or 0.9%, at 7,611.23 on Monday.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo ended down 0.3%.
Japan's central bank revised its inflation forecast on Tuesday and adjusted its view of price risks, while leaving its monetary easing policy in place in a nod to lingering pandemic uncertainty.
In a quarterly report on prices and the economy, the Bank of Japan said it now forecasts inflation of 1.1% for the fiscal year to March 2023, up from its previous forecast of 0.9%. It also revised up its forecast for the fiscal year to March 2024 to 1.1% from 1.0%, leaving the projection for the current year unchanged.
It declared "risks to prices are generally balanced," adjusting its previous assessment of risk as "skewed to the downside."
The yen was weaker early Tuesday in London. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY114.96 versus JPY114.60.
In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney ended down 0.1%.
US markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr day, reopening on Tuesday.
In early UK company news, miner Rio Tinto saw production decline in the fourth quarter amid "challenging" operating conditions.
Pilbara iron ore shipments fell 5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter and iron ore production was down 2% at 84.1 million tonnes. Bauxite, aluminium and titanium dioxide slag output declined 2%, 7% and 16% respectively, while mined copper production was flat.
For 2021 as a whole, Pilbara iron ore shipments slipped 3% to 321.6 million tonnes and iron ore production was down 4% at 319.7 million tonnes. Bauxite, aluminium and titanium dioxide slag output were down 3%, 1% and 9%, respectively, and mined copper was down 7%.
"In 2021 we continued to experience strong demand for our products while operating conditions remained challenging, including due to prolonged Covid-19 disruptions. Despite this, we progressed a number of our projects," said Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm.
Paving stones maker Marshalls said it expects results for 2021 to slightly ahead of previous forecasts after notching strong revenue growth.
Revenue for 2021 was GBP589 million, up both on the GBP469 million achieved in 2020 and the GBP542 million reported for pre-pandemic 2019. Revenue growth in the second half of the year was "increasingly strong", the company added.
Marshalls manufactures natural stone and concrete hard landscaping products.
"This positive trading performance across the group has been achieved despite the continued backdrop of sector-wide raw material and labour shortages...However, cost increases were recovered through a mid-year price increase and a further price increase has been implemented successfully in January 2022," said Marshalls.
As a result, it revised trading expectations for 2021 to be "slightly ahead of its previous view", and said recent trading remains positive.
Online retail platform operator THG reported strong revenue growth but flagged a margin hit from foreign exchange headwinds.
Fourth-quarter revenue was GBP711.7 million, up 27% on a year ago and nearly double on a two-year basis. For 2021 as a whole, revenue rose 35% to GBP2.18 billion.
However, the beauty products retailer's full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin is expected to be in the range of 7.4% to 7.7%, compared to market expectations of around 7.9%, after taking into account 90 basis points of adverse foreign currency movements, it said.
For 2022, the margin is expected to improve throughout the year, and revenue growth is seen in a region of 22% to 25% at constant currencies, slowing from the 38% achieved in 2021.
The economic events calendar on Tuesday has the German ZEW survey at 1000 GMT. The euro traded at USD1.1401, softening slightly against USD1.1405 late Monday.
Gold was quoted at USD1,815.70 an ounce early Tuesday, lower from USD1,818.80 on Monday. Brent oil was trading at USD87.82 a barrel, higher than USD86.01 late Monday and trading around its best levels since 2014.
By Lucy Heming;Â [email protected]
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