21st Oct 2014 06:40
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open slightly lower Tuesday, taking a lead from Asian markets which fell after Chinese GDP growth came in at the worst level since early 2009.
Futures indicate the FTSE 100 will open 16 points lower at 6,251.3. The index closed at 6,267.07 on Monday.
The Chinese economy logged its weakest expansion since early 2009 in the third quarter as slowdown in investment, particularly in the property sector, continued to drag the recovery. Gross domestic product grew 7.3% in the third quarter year-on-year, slower than the 7.5% expansion seen in the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. However, the growth was marginally ahead of the 7.2% rise that economists had predicted.
In September, annual growth in Chinese industrial production accelerated to 8% from 6.9% in August, another report from NBS showed. Production was forecast to grow 7.5%. Meanwhile, retail sales growth moderated to 11.6% from 11.9%. The rate was also weaker than an expected 11.7% rise.
Asian equity markets are trading lower, with the Nikkei closing down 2.0% after its rally on Monday. The Hang Seng is trading down 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite is down 0.4%.
US indices shook off disappointing results from International Business Machines Corp to close higher Monday. The DJIA ended up 0.1%, the S&P up 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.4%.
Computer giant Apple reported a net income of USD8.5 billion, or USD1.42 per share, in the fourth quarter, up 12.7% from USD7.5 billion a year earlier, the Cupertino, California-based company said Monday after the close of the US equity market. Revenue rose by 12.4% to USD42.1 billion, the company said, citing record iPhone sales.
FTSE 100-listed Meggitt revealed it has won a major multi-million dollar contract for an advanced wheel and braking system for Gulfstream Aerospace's new G500 and G600 business jets.
Premier Inns hotels and Costa coffee chain operator Whitbread said total revenue increased by 13% to GBP1.29 billion from GBP1.14 billion in the six months ended August 28. The company also saw underlying pretax profit rise by 19% to GBP256 million from GBP216.1 million.
Intercontinental Hotels Group said global comparable revenue per available room rose 7.0% in the third quarter, its best quarterly performance in over two years and marking an acceleration from the first half of the year, helped by strong growth in the US in particular.
Engineering group GKN reported higher pretax profit for the third quarter, as higher trading margins in its aerospace business offset a decline in sales that was caused by the strength of sterling.
British consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser Group said like-for-like sales, excluding its pharmaceuticals unit, were up 3% in the third quarter, and it reiterated its full year targets for both revenue and margin growth and said it now expects to demerge the pharmaceuticals business before the year end.
Still ahead on Tuesday is UK public sector net borrowing for September at 0930 BST, before US Redbook index for the week ending October 17 at 1355 BST and existing home sales change for September at 1500 BST. Data on UK grocers' market share from the Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending October 12 will also be released at 0930 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]
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