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Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
JD Sports Fashion PLC | 85.7 | 3.9% |
Beazley PLC | 842.5 | 3.8% |
Admiral Group PLC | 2,746.0 | 3.4% |
United Utilities Group PLC | 1,005.5 | 2.6% |
Barclays PLC | 296.4 | 2.4% |
Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
BAE Systems PLC | 1198.5 | -4.2% |
Diageo PLC | 2430.0 | -2.6% |
Glencore PLC | 346.7 | -2.3% |
St. James’s Place PLC | 931.0 | -1.7% |
Taylor Wimpey PLC | 118.9 | -1.2% |
Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 Year |
UK 100 INDEX | 8,557 | 0.3% | 12.1% |
DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 44,856 | 0.0% | 17.3% |
DAX INDEX | 21,614 | 0.9% | 27.4% |
NIKKEI 225 | 39,415 | 1.0% | 9.3% |
S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 8,447 | 0.6% | 11.1% |
Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 73.17 | -0.81% |
Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 77.08 | -0.53% |
Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 2,752 | -0.4% |
Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 431 | 1.4% |
The UK 100 called to open +5 points at 8562. The UK 100 looks set to open marginally higher this morning, this comes after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is in no hurry to lower borrowing costs. Interest rates remain in the range of 4.25-4.5% after cuts at the previous three meetings.
Stateside yesterday saw the S&P 500 fall 0.47% to close at 6,039.31, while the Nasdaq lost 0.51% to end at 19,632.32. The Dow Jones shed 136.83 points, or 0.31%, to 44,713.52.
Airtel Africa said this morning that they had delivered a robust operational performance for the nine-month period ending December 2024, with significant growth in its customer base and data usage, which led to increased revenues in constant currency terms. Despite challenges such as currency devaluation and increased costs, the company maintained a strong financial position, introducing a second $100 million share buyback program reflecting confidence in future growth. The expansion of network infrastructure and a focus on cost efficiency improved EBITDA margins, while efforts to stabilize currency exposures and leverage ratios signaled a more robust financial strategy. These strategic initiatives are set against a backdrop of rising demand for connectivity in Africa, promising further growth opportunities.
BT reported this morning that it added a record 472,000 connections to its growing fibre network in its third quarter, underpinning its confidence that it will meet its full-year profit forecast. The company on Thursday reported adjusted core earnings of 2.1 billion pounds ($2.61 billion) for the three months to end-Dec, up 4% year-on-year, on revenue of 5.2 billion pounds.
Glencore reported lower copper, cobalt, zinc, nickel and thermal coal production in 2024. Copper, nickel and cobalt are materials used for electric vehicles, a key plank of the energy transition. Glencore said it produced 951,600 metric tons of copper in 2024, down 6% from 1.01 million tons in 2023, the lower end of its outlook of between 950,000 and 1.01 million tons.
Shell fourth quarter earnings today dropped sharply to $3.7 billion (£3 billion) after its performance was impacted by weaker oil prices and margins. The figure, which compared with $6 billion in the previous quarter, led to an overall earnings haul of $23.7 billion (£19 billion) for 2024. Despite the lower earnings in the quarter, Shell’a free cash flow of $39.5 billion (£31.8 billion) for 2024 came in higher than 2023. This has fuelled a 4% increase in the fourth quarter dividend and another $3.5 billion buyback, making it the 13th consecutive quarter of at least $3 billion.
St James’s Place brought in £4.3bn in new money throughout 2024, bringing its total assets under management to a record £190.2bn. Britain’s largest wealth manager attracted £1.5bn of new money over the last quarter of the year, it said in a trading update. The firm’s pension arm brought in the vast majority of this money (£1.2bn), despite making up only just over half of its business. However, every arm of St James’s Place saw inflows, unlike the last quarter of 2023, when its investment and discretionary fund management arm both saw withdrawals. Despite the strong performance in the final quarter, the firm’s net inflows for the entire year fell from 2023, when it brought in £5.1bn.
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UK
Airtel Africa (AAF)*
BT Group (BT.A)
Glencore (GLEN)
Greencore Group (GNC)
Sage Group (SGE)
Shell (SHEL)
St James Place (STJ)
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ)
US
Blackstone (BX) PMO
Caterpillar Inc (CAT) PMO
Mastercard (MA) PMO
Takeda Pharmaceutical (TAK) PMO
Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) PMO
Apple Inc (AAPL) AMC
Intel Corp (INTC) AMC
Visa (V) AMC
UK
None
US
AbbVie (ABBV) PMO
Aon (AON) PMO
Chevron (CVX) PMO
Exxon Mobil (XOM) PMO
German Gross Domestic Product
EU Business Climate
EU Consumer Confidence
EU Economic Sentiment Indicator
EU Gross Domestic Product
EU Unemployment Rate
ECB Main Refinancing Operations Rate
ECB Monetary Policy Statement
ECB Rate On Deposit Facility
US Personal Consumption Expenditures
US Gross Domestic Product
US Initial Jobless Claims
ECB Press Conference
US Pending Home Sales
Japanese Tokyo Consumer Price Index
Japanese Unemployment Rate
UK 100 companies going ex-dividend on 30th January 2025:
None
UK 250 companies going ex-dividend on 30th January 2025:
Pennon Group
SSP Group
Hollywood Bowl Group
Supermarket Income REIT
Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Inc Fnd
Edinburgh Investment Trust
Schroder Oriental Income Fund
IG Group Holdings
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