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| Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
| British American Tobacco PLC | 2,396.6 | 2.4% |
| Beazley PLC | 672.0 | 2.3% |
| Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC | 1,882.5 | 1.9% |
| Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC | 4,567.0 | 1.8% |
| SSE PLC | 1,608.0 | 1.6% |
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Phoenix Group Holdings PLC | 482.0 | -4.4% |
| BT Group PLC | 105.2 | -3.1% |
| Vodafone Group PLC | 67.8 | -2.9% |
| United Utilities Group PLC | 1,031.5 | -2.6% |
| Severn Trent PLC | 2,516.0 | -2.3% |
| Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 YEAR |
| UK 100 INDEX | 7,723 | -0.1% | 5.3% |
| DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 38,790 | 0.2% | 21.8% |
| DAX INDEX | 17,933 | 0.0% | 21.4% |
| NIKKEI 225 | 39,740 | 2.7% | 45.4% |
| S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 7,676 | 0.1% | 9.7% |
| Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
| WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 82.93 | 2.33% |
| Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 87.01 | 1.96% |
| Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 2,160 | 0.2% |
| Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 413 | 0.2% |
Click graph to enlarge
The UK 100 called to open -7 points at 7,715. The UK 100 looks set to open slightly lower this morning, this follows a fairly flat day yesterday, as investors look to position themselves ahead of tomorrows inflation print, which is expected to show a drop to 3.5% year on year and interest rate decisions from the Federal Reserve. Stateside yesterday saw stocks rise as Wall Street looked to a key artificial intelligence conference and awaited new monetary policy guidance from the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones climbed 75.66 points, or 0.2%, to settle at 38,790.43. The S&P gained 32.33 points, or 0.63%, to finish at 5,149.42, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.82% to end at 16,103.45.
AstraZeneca are to acquire Fusion Pharmaceuticals for $21 per share, giving it a $2bn valuation.
Close Brothers report a H1 pretax profit of £93.8m, up from £11.7m YoY. They have declared no H1 dividend as their loan book came in at £9.8bn. No H1 dividend is due to FCA review of motor finance industry.
Crest Nicholson says their trading was in line with expectations after reduced Christmas activity.
Essentra report a 2023 pretax profit of £8.4m, up from a £29.1m loss YoY. They declare a 2023 dividend of 3.6p per share, up 9.1% from 3.3p YoY. Their CFO Jack Clarke will retire no later than March 2025.
National Grid has proposed a £58bn investment programme to boost grid networks beyond 2030 to accommodate expected growth in electricity demand and an increase in renewable power projects.
NatWest will seek shareholder approval to buy back up to 15% of its stock from the UK government.
Trustpilot Group report a 2023 pretax loss of $1.9m and an adjusted EBITDA of $15.5m. They are confident in delivering mid-teens constant currency revenue growth.
Unilever announces the separation of their Ice Cream unit and the launch of a productivity programme.
Investec Downgrades ConvaTec Group to Hold from Buy (10 Buys / 3 Holds / 0 Sells)
RBC Upgrades Vistry Group to ‘Sector Perform’ from Underperform (7 Buys / 5 Holds / 1 Sell)
UK
Close Brothers
Diversified Energy Company
Essentra
Trustpilot Group
US
Xpeng
UK
Computacenter
FDM Group Holdings
Prudential
US
Micron Technology
BoJ Interest Rate Decision
BoJ Monetary Policy Statement
BoJ Press Conference
EU ZEW Survey – Economic Sentiment
German ZEW Survey – Current Situation
German ZEW Survey – Economic Sentiment
US Housing Starts
US Building Permits
UK 100 companies going ex-dividend on 21st March 2024:
Schroders
British American Tobacco
Beazley
Hikma Pharmaceuticals
Pearson
UK 250 companies going ex-dividend on 21st March 2024:
Crest Nicholson Holdings
BlackRock World Mining Trust
Chemring Group
HgCapital Trust
abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust
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