Markets Overview:

UK 100 called to open -120 at 7285; Wuhan, the Chinese city where the novel coronavirus emerged, will allow non-residents to leave, in the first easing of a lockdown that started a month ago to contain the epidemic at its epicenter.  This after it was reported that, Hong Kong is being threatened by a “Tsunami-like” cataclysm, the city’s finance chief has warned, as the new coronavirus devastates businesses already hobbled by months of anti-government protests. The financial hub’s lack of a bankruptcy process will only exacerbate the pain.  The Nikkei closed slightly lower at 23,386 (A fall of 92 points), the above news weighed heavier on the Hong Kong exchange, seeing the Hang Seng close 463 points lower (1.7%) at 26, 842.  A more modest fall was also seen in China as the CSI closed 16 points lower at 4,132.  The U.S Closed out the week with a red trading session, the Dow Jones closed 227 points lower to slip back below 29,000, trading at 28,992.  The S&P followed suit to close 35 points lower at 3,337 and the Nasdaq , saw the biggest percentage drop (1.7%) to close at 9,576, a fall of 174 points.  Oil also slipped back fro Fridays highs to trade at $57 per barrel.  Whilst gold continued to rally, trading at fresh 7 year highs of $1669.

In corporate news this morning:

Bank of Ireland released FY 2019 results with an underlying profit of 758m euros. They also announced a dividend of 17.5 cents per share (+9% increase on 2018), but is unchanged for 2020.

Bunzl announces FY pretax profit of £453.3m verses £424.8m in 2019. They continue to see challenging trading conditions in many of its markets.

Countrywide confirms that they are in discussion with LSL Property regarding a possible all-share combination valued at £500m. They say at this stage, there can be no certainty that any offer will ultimately be made for Countrywide.

Dechra Pharmaceuticals announced HY operating profit of £23.3m v £17m. They announced an interim dividend of 10.29p per share. Outlook for FY remains in line with management expectations, although performance in North America will remain challenging. Prolonged interruption in China from Coronavirus would lead to the company being ‘out of stocks’. However, they have sufficient inventory of Chinese sourced materials to deal with near term supply.

Fresnillo says that mine at Juanicipio project to begin production ahead of schedule.

Source: Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, DJ Newswires, AlphaTerminal

Reporting Today:

Dechra, Bunzl

Reporting Tomorrow:

Metro Bank, Croda, Petrofac, Meggit, Hammerson

In Focus Today:

CN -Chinese Industrial Production

CN - Chinese Retail Sales Data

US  - Chicago Fed National Activity Index

This Week's Ex Dividends:

UK 100 :

Easyjet

Diageo

Barclays

Astrazeneca

HSBC Holdings

:

Beazley

Witan Investment Trust

Plus 500

Upgrades/Downgrades

Rentokil Upgraded to Buy by Jefferies (Bloomberg: 5 Buys / 6 Holds / 3 Sells)

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