This report is not a personal recommendation and does not take into account your personal circumstances or appetite for risk.
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
| VODAFONE GROUP PLC | 134.9 | 5.9% |
| AVIVA PLC | 356.9 | 3.7% |
| M&G PLC | 187.0 | 2.3% |
| BT GROUP PLC | 128.7 | 1.8% |
| ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC-B SHS | 1,272.4 | 1.8% |
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
| GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC | 1282.0 | -6.3% |
| ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC | 91.9 | -3.0% |
| MELROSE INDUSTRIES PLC | 174.2 | -2.2% |
| DIAGEO PLC | 2979.0 | -2.1% |
| HIKMA PHARMACEUTICALS PLC | 2364.0 | -2.0% |
| Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 YEAR |
| UK 100 INDEX | 6,508 | -0.1% | -12.5% |
| DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 30,724 | 0.1% | 6.7% |
| DAX INDEX | 13,934 | 0.7% | 4.9% |
| NIKKEI 225 | 28,342 | -1.1% | 22.8% |
| S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 6,766 | -0.9% | -2.6% |
| Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
| WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 56.17 | 0.86% |
| Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 58.93 | 0.80% |
| Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 1,825 | -0.5% |
| Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 357 | 0.1% |
Click graph to enlarge
UK 100 called to open +14 points this morning at 6521. Calls for a positive open come following yesterdays session which seemed to provide some calming of recent unusually sharp volatility. Leaving traders to focus on more pressing matters, such as the global roll out of the Covid 19 vaccine. It was a mixed session stateside yesterday, the Dow Jones edged to a 36 point or 0.12% gain on Wednesday to finish at 30,723. The S&P 500 notched a 0.1% gain for the day, closing at 3,930, whilst the Nasdaq dipped 0.01% to 13,610. Overnight in Asia markets pulled back on tighter liquidity conditions in China. Japan’s Nikkei gave up 304 points or 1.06% to close at 28,341, whilst in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng similarly slipped, losing 0.8% to trade at 29,065. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite was 0.45% lower at 3,501.
AstraZeneca says their drug Forxiga has been approved in China for treating heart failure.
Barratt Developments reports H1 pretax profit of £430.2m (2020: £423m). They have also confirmed they are going to pay a 7.5p interim dividend (2020: 0p interim dividend).
BT says that it remains on track for the year after reporting a 5% drop in core earnings for the nine months to end of December 2020 on 7% lower revenue, a fall it put down to the impact of COVID-19.
Compass Group says their Q1 2021 revenue is down 34% QoQ.
Cranswick expects higher demand for its products going forward.
Royal Dutch Shell says that their upstream unit has been hurt by lower oil prices and hurricanes in Q4, swinging to a loss in 2020. Their Q4 total revenue was down 47% to $45.03bn, 2020 revenue down 48% to $183.2bn. Their dividend payout for Q4 has been cut by 65% to 16.65 cents per share (From 47 cents per share previously).
Severn Trent are confident of delivering FY results in line with expectations.
Unilever reported underlying sales growth for Q4 that was in line with estimates, buoyed by strong demand in emerging markets. Underlying sales rose 3.5%, in line with analysts' forecasts.
Watches of Switzerland reports that their Q3 revenue was up 6.6% to £272.6m.
Deutsche Bank Downgrades GSK to a Sell from Hold (8 Buys / 12 Holds / 1 Sell)
Jefferies Upgrades Prudential to a Buy from Hold (7 Buys / 4 Holds / 0 Sells)
BT Group
Barratt Developments
Compass Group
Cranswick
Renishaw
ICG Enterprise Trust
Unilever
Beazley
Smurfit Kappa
Eurozone Retail Sales
Bank of England Monetary Policy Report
BoE Interest Rate Decision
BoE's Governor Bailey speech
US Initial Jobless Claims
UK 100:
None
UK 250:
Schroder Oriental Income Fund
GCP Infrastructure Investments
TI Fluid Systems
FDM Group (Holdings)
Foresight Solar Fund
Edinburgh Investment Trust
For any help you may require placing trades or in terms of market information, put a call in to our trading floor – it’s all part of the service.
This research is produced by Accendo Markets Limited. Research produced and disseminated by Accendo Markets is classified as non-independent research, and is therefore a marketing communication. This investment research has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote its independence and it is not subject to the prohibition on dealing ahead of the dissemination of investment research. This research does not constitute a personal recommendation or offer to enter into a transaction or an investment, and is produced and distributed for information purposes only.
Accendo Markets considers opinions and information contained within the research to be valid when published, and gives no warranty as to the investments referred to in this material. The income from the investments referred to may go down as well as up, and investors may realise losses on investments. The past performance of a particular investment is not necessarily a guide to its future performance.