UK markets fell sharply during the Friday session following a weak opening on Wall Street as ups the ante in his pandemic spate with China. The US President claims to have seen evidence that the coronavirus emerged from Chinese labs, yet US Intelligence officials distanced themselves from those allegations. Dismal UK manufacturing data weighed on the investor mood, adding to the gloomy economic ...

Coronavirus presents a big risk to corporate earnings if world trade is affected and companies’ supply chains are interrupted. While investors have begun to factor this risk into company valuations over the last month, when companies say they no longer have visibility over earnings it makes the job of valuing them a great deal harder. Now, as the virus continues to spread, some investors are ...

Stocks around the world were hit on Monday as fears intensified over China’s virus outbreak and the economic impact on the luxury and travel sectors. The FTSE 100 fell 1.4% to 7,485 points and the FTSE 250 was off 1.1% at 21,490 points. European markets saw falls of between 0.9% and 1.5%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 2% while markets in China and Hong Kong were closed for a ...

London’s FTSE 100 reversed 24.2 points to 7,343.25 on Monday with investors spooked by the attack on Saudi oil facilities and flocking to safer havens such as gold. Markets were also weak across other parts of Europe and Asia where investors reacted in a similar manner to the oil price spike and how it might fuel inflation. In corporate news, Tullow Oil (TLW) gushed 9.9% higher to 244.3p on ...

The FTSE 100 starts the week on the back foot although it is still holding on to a position north of 7,200, down 0.37% at 7,210.16 in early trading. An uptick in the pound contributing to the weaker open. Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) reports a 65% drop in annual profit owing to one-off gains and expenses but underlying earnings are up as the company hit the top end of its sales ...

The FTSE 100 makes a tentative start to the week, down 6.47 points at 7,297.57. The now all-to-familiar trade tensions between the US and China continue to bubble away in the background. The Trump administration is widely expected to slap tariffs on another $200bn worth of Chinese imports this week. FTSE 250 firm Dairy Crest (DCG) says it expected first-half profit and revenue to be ahead of ...

There’s a major business shake-up underway at Rolls-Royce (RR.) as the FTSE 100 aero-engineer confirms that it will cut 4,600 jobs as part of a plan to simplify its business and save £400m a year by the end of 2020. Those hoped-for streamlined costs go down well with investors, sending the stock more than 3% higher in early trade on Thursday to 854p, topping the FTSE 100 leader ...

The FTSE 100 gets off to a solid start on Monday – a smidge higher at 7,368.98 – after hitting its highest levels since February at the end of last week. Support services firm Capita (CPI) gains 13% to 180.75p as the market demonstrates relief the company is addressing its financial problems with a £701m fully underwritten rights issue. Impairments saw 2017 pre-tax profit widen to £513.1m ...

London’s FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 skip higher on Tuesday, up 23.5 points to 7,218 and 68.5 points to 19,553 respectively, as investors put aside growing geo-political tensions over Syria to focus on a softening tone from China over its trade dispute with the US. Budgets gifts-to-greetings cards seller Card Factory (CARD) improves 5.8% to 201p on news of a decent start to the new financial ...

South Africa is the latest country to be closely watched by UK investors. A decent number of companies doing business in that part of the world have their shares traded on the London Stock Exchange. Cyril Ramaphosa was last week sworn in as the new president of South Africa, replacing Jacob Zuma who stepped down after pressure from the governing ANC party amid corruption allegations. Ramaphosa ...

UK investors could be in for another bumpy day of trading on Thursday after a mixed session overnight in the US. The FTSE 100 index opens on the back foot, losing around 45 points, or 0.6%, in early deals to trade at 7,235.08. There’s more bad news from embattled TalkTalk (TALK) as the broadband and calls supplier slashes its dividend and goes on the hunt for new funding via a £200m rights ...

London’s fabulous FTSE 100 firms 12.2 points to 7,678 on Monday, as engineer GKN (GKN) edges ahead 0.1p to 436.1p. The planes-to-car parts giant issues a new salvo against Melrose Industries' (MRO) hostile bid, warning that raising the company’s debt ratio could reduce the strength of its covenants and thus increase the cash needed to fund its pension. Diamond producer Petra Diamonds ...

London’s blue-chips begin the session trading 2.2 points lower at 7,311.3, the markets having little to process besides last night’s tax announcement from President Donald Trump. Budget airline Ryanair (RYA) weakens 1.4% to €16.88, the share price holding up surprisingly well given the raft of flight cancellations and schedule changes that have enraged customers and caused the Michael ...

I spotted a great comment on Twitter the other day which perfectly illustrated the brutal force of resource nationalism. It showed the share price performance of the larger UK mining stocks so far this year with the words ‘spot the companies with operations in Tanzania’. While nearly all of the stocks were in positive territory, two stocks stood out because they had declined by a ...

After two trading days of heavy losses on a resurgent pound the FTSE 100 claws back a little ground this morning, taking its cue from a positive session in Asia overnight. The index is up 0.3% to 7,236. Figures from online property site Rightmove (RMV) showed London house prices recording their biggest annual fall so far this decade. Diamond producer Petra Diamonds (PDL) slumps 8.6% to ...

Diamond producer Petra Diamonds (PDL) has become the latest miner to fall foul of meddling by the Tanzanian government. Its shares crashed 30% at the market open after saying the government had blocked the export of a parcel of diamonds and some of Petra’s employees were being questioned by the authorities. The share price decline had eased back to -7.6% by 8.40am to trade at ...

The FTSE 100 makes healthy gains this morning, up 0.45% to 7,410.96, as North Korean tensions ease a little over the weekend. Shares in insurance companies also recover some ground after Inga Beale, the chief of the Lloyd's of London insurance market, issued reassurance over the impact of Hurricane Irma. Analysts have pointed to insured losses of up to £150bn from the storm which made landfall ...

Banking group Investec (INVP) looks primed to join the FTSE 100 at September’s index reshuffle, according to our calculations and assuming no major changes to market values over the next week. Investec is expected to replace Provident Financial (PFG) whose share price collapsed earlier this week following another profit warning, dividend cancellation, chief executive departure and ...

London's FTSE 100 trades 42 points lower at 7,393 following a night of weak trading on Wall Street which saw technology stocks drop significantly. In corporate news, Dixons Carphone (DC.) gives the UK retail sector a shot in the arm as its share price creeps up over 2% to 300.7p. The electricals-to-mobiles retailer's preliminary results show the firm had a good year to 29 April 2017, enjoying ...

A new mining charter in South Africa is more onerous than expected and implies that companies could have a reduced share of profit and suffer higher costs. Miners have 12 months to ensure a black economic empowerment (BEE) group owns at least 30% of their mining assets in South Africa, up from the previous 26% rule. Miners must also pay 1% of turnover from local assets to the BEE partner, as a ...