There is a sea of red in London this morning as the FTSE 100 takes its cue from a poor end to last week for US stocks and a sell off in Asia overnight.
The index of leading UK shares is down more than 1% in early trading. Investors will be watching the US open nervously this afternoon to see if the selling will come to an end or rather gather pace.
Although it commits to a €750m share buyback airline Ryanair (RYA) falls 2.7% to €15.68 as investors focus on chief executive Michael O’Leary’s cautious tone for the final three months of its financial year to 31 March. O’Leary says there is a chance of localized disruption and ‘adverse PR’ as the company finalises union deals for its staff.
Gold miner Randgold Resources (RRS) falls 1.3% to £69.50 despite doubling its dividend on a 14% increase in annual profit, driven by rising production. The company is sitting on net cash of $720m. Gold output for 2018 is guided at between 1.3m and 1.35m ounces compared with 1.315m in 2017.
The share price weakness may reflect resource nationalism fears after the company's description of the new mining code in the Democratic Republic of Congo as 'draconian'
Shares in supermarket Tesco (TSCO) are flat at 202p as it confirms a final dividend of 2p and an expectation to post a profit of 1.575bn for the year to 24 February. Perhaps more significantly it is confirmed that the current CEO of Booker (BOK) Charles Wilson will head up Tesco’s UK retail and wholesale operations when the planned merger between the two completes
Cinema chain Cineworld (CINE) is down 55.9% to 228.6p but before investors get too alarmed this is merely the share price reacting to the £1.7bn rights issue which is being used to fund the acquisition of US rival Regal Entertainment. You can read more about the deal and the fundraise in this in-depth article on rights issues.
Banking firm Charter Court Financial Services (CCFS) falls 6.5% to 314p as Investec cuts its recommendation on the stock from 'buy' to 'hold' after a strong run for the shares.
