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FTSE 100: This morning’s risers and fallers

Your Money
Written By:
Your Money
Posted:
Updated:
07/03/2014

UK markets opened slightly lower on Friday morning ahead of key economic data from the States, with investors awaiting the official US employment report for February.

With a lack of major corporate earnings out today, markets were digesting negative broker commentary surrounding heavyweights HSBC and Vodafone this morning, while Aggreko was pulling back after a strong rise the day before.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 6,766 in early trading.

Analysts expect the Labor Department’s non-farm payrolls data to show that US employers added 150,000 jobs last month, up from the measly 113,000 gain in January, though the jobless rate is forecast to hold at 6.6%.

Despite the pick-up in growth month-on-month, the 150,000 increase is still markedly less than what analysts and policymakers are hoping for in light of the Federal Reserve’s tapering of monetary stimulus.

Chris Beauchamp, Market Analyst at IG, said: “The look forward to non-farm payrolls is not particularly optimistic, given the weak ADP report [on Wednesday] and knowledge that the implications of difficult weather in February is that job creation may well be weak.”

On a positive note, data yesterday showed that US jobless claims dropped by 26,000 to a three-month low of 323,000. The figure came in lower than analysts’ forecasts, pushing the benchmark S&P 500 to another record high last night.

HSBC, Vodafone fall after broker comments

Banking giant HSBC was lower this morning after Goldman Sachs removed the stock from its ‘conviction buy’ list and cut its target price from 900p to 740p. Goldman said that uncertainties remain over regulatory capital requirements at the bank , which is “likely to push additional capital returns further into the future”.

Telecoms firm Vodafone was also down after Bank of America Merrill Lynch reportedly removed the stock from its ‘Europe 1′ list. Sentiment in the sector was also dampened after Telecom Italia scrapped its dividend as it reported a full-year net loss of €674m.

Temporary power group Aggreko was retreating after a 3.5% gain on Thursday after it confirmed that it would return £200m in capital to shareholders alongside its 2013 results.

In contrast, insurance firm Aviva was continuing to rise despite an 8% surge yesterday as investors continued to celebrate a better-than-expected set of annual figures.

Postal and delivery firm Royal Mail after JPMorgan Cazenove lifted its target price from 700p to 765p, keeping an ‘overweight’ rating.

FTSE 100 – Risers
Aviva (AV.) 513.50p +1.88%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,527.00p +0.99%
Royal Mail (RMG) 594.00p +0.85%
BT Group (BT.A) 405.60p +0.42%
Carnival (CCL) 2,385.00p +0.42%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 928.50p +0.38%
Prudential (PRU) 1,379.00p +0.36%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,375.00p +0.36%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,111.00p +0.36%
Old Mutual (OML) 199.50p +0.30%

FTSE 100 – Fallers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,498.00p -1.83%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 929.50p -1.48%
Group (VOD) 244.05p -1.31%
BAE Systems (BA.) 408.20p -1.28%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 490.50p -1.27%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,399.00p -1.27%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 97.40p -0.92%
Next (NXT) 6,625.00p -0.90%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,281.50p -0.88%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,614.00p -0.86%

Source: ShareCast


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