24th Feb 2015 07:36
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open flat Tuesday as investors continue to await the list of Greek economic reforms to be handed to its creditors.
Greece will submit new economic reform proposals on Tuesday in a bid to secure a four-month extension to the European share of its bailout, with Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis blaming the one-day delay on the country's international creditors.
Athens had been asked to come up with a detailed list of reforms by midnight on Monday, as part of an agreement reached last week with eurozone finance ministers to extend the country's bailout until June and receive loans to repay its debts. But with less than four hours to go until the deadline, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' office issued a statement saying that Athens would send the list off on Tuesday, ahead of a Greek cabinet meeting at 1000 GMT.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open largely flat at 6,912.5. The index closed slightly lower at 6,912.16 on Monday, with oil stocks falling as the price of oil came under pressure and HSBC Holdings closed down 4.6%, after it missed expectations with a 17% drop in pretax profit.
Ahead of the London open, Brent oil is quoted at USD58.44 and West Texas Intermediate is at USD48.89.
Members of Opec have discussed holding an emergency meeting if crude continues to slide, the Financial Times reports Tuesday, citing an interview with Nigeria?s oil minister. The comments by Diezani Alison-Madueke come three months after the cartel?s decision to hold production at 30 million barrels a day, even as the oil price has plunged since mid-June, and is a sign of members' growing alarm over the impact of a lower oil price on their economies, the FT reports.
The final reading of German fourth quarter GDP met expectations according to a report from the Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. The quarterly figure showed a growth of 0.7%, up from a growth of 0.1% in the third quarter, while the year-on-year number showed an expansion of 1.6%, above the 1.2% seen in the previous quarter. Both readings came in line with expectations.
Wall Street ended mixed Monday. The DJIA closed down 0.1%, the S&P 500 ended slightly lower while the Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.1%.
In Asia Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei closed up 0.7% at 18,603.48, its highest close since April 2000. The Hang Seng trades down 0.4%, and Shanghai remains closed for Chinese New Year.
FTSE 100-listed homebuilder Persimmon joined peer Bovis Homes in reporting a big rise in profit for 2014, driven by higher home sales at higher average prices, and said 2015 hasgot off to a solid start. Like Bovis, which reported on Monday, Persimmon expects a slight slowdown in the market around May's UK General Election, but said the improving UK economy and increased mortgage lender support would drive the market for 2015 as a whole.
BHP Billiton said its first half profit nearly halved year-on-year, despite growth in production, owing to the impact of volatile commodity markets. The company slashed capital and exploration expenditure, and declared a 5% increase in interim dividend. The Melbourne, Australia-based mining giant reported attributable profit of USD4.27 billion or USD0.80 per share for the first half, 47.4% lower than USD8.11 billion or USD1.52 per share in the same period last year.
Drax Group slashed its dividend after reporting a fall in underlying earnings in 2014 and cut its capital expenditure budget by over a quarter for 2015, as it warned the outlook for this year is set to reflect "deterioration in the commodity markets".
There also have been full-year results from engineering group GKN, defence and aerospace components maker Meggitt, and packaging and paper company Mondi. In the FTSE 250, subprime lender Provident Financial, specialty chemicals companies Croda International, and Elementis all reported full-year results, while emerging markets asset manager Ashmore Group and animal genetics company Genus issued half-year results.
In the economic calendar, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will be speaking at the inflation report hearing at 1000 GMT. Eurozone consumer price index will also be released at 1000 GMT. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will be giving a speech in Frankfurt at the official unveiling of the new EUR20 banknote at 1400 GMT. US consumer confidence is at 1500 GMT as is US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's semi-annual Congressional testimony on monetary policy.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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