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| Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
| St. James’s Place PLC | 438.0 | 4.7% |
| Ashtead Group PLC | 5,548.0 | 4.4% |
| Halma PLC | 2,294.0 | 3.9% |
| Melrose Industries PLC | 642.4 | 3.5% |
| Croda International PLC | 4,859.0 | 2.9% |
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Prudential PLC | 749.4 | -4.0% |
| Burberry Group PLC | 1,194.5 | -2.9% |
| Smith & Nephew PLC | 1,034.8 | -2.2% |
| Weir Group PLC | 1,956.5 | -2.0% |
| Unilever PLC | 3,874.0 | -1.4% |
| Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 YEAR |
| UK 100 INDEX | 7,737 | 0.0% | 2.7% |
| DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 39,512 | 1.0% | 21.4% |
| DAX INDEX | 18,015 | 0.2% | 18.6% |
| NIKKEI 225 | 40,816 | 2.0% | 51.5% |
| S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 7,782 | 1.1% | 11.9% |
| Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
| WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 81.68 | -2.14% |
| Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 86.39 | 0.51% |
| Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 2,208 | 1.0% |
| Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 411 | 1.5% |
Click graph to enlarge
The UK 100 called to open +70 points at 7,807. The UK 100 looks set to open significantly higher this morning as stocks seem to be responding to a record-breaking session in the US after the Federal Reserve signalled that it continues to see three rate cuts occurring in 2024. The Dow Jones rallied 401.37 points, or 1.03%, to finish at 39,512.13, while the S&P gained 0.89% to close at 5,224.62 and punched above the 5,200 level for the first time ever. The Nasdaq jumped 1.25% to settle at 16,369.41. All three major indices closing at record highs.
Centamin keeps their 2024 outlook unchanged as they declare a final dividend of $0.02 cents per share.
Direct Line Insurance Group posted a £189.6m operating loss for 2023 but said they would reinstate their dividend. The operating loss compares to a loss of £6.4m in 2022, as the insurer grapples high claims inflation. They will pay a dividend of 4p and have set a new target of 13% net insurance margin in 2026, with at least £100m of cost savings by the end of 2025.
Dowlais 2023 pretax loss widens to £522m, up from £63m YoY.
FirstGroup gets contract by TFL to operate its IFS Cloud London Cable Car, which will yield revenues of around £60m over potential eight-year contract.
M&G reported profit ahead of analyst forecasts for 2023 as the company looks to cash in on a boom in demand for pension insurance. They reported assets under management of £343.5bn, up on the £342bn reported the prior year and an adjusted operating profit of £797m, up 28% YoY and ahead of analyst forecasts. They reported net inflows excluding heritage business of £1.1bn, up from £0.2bn of inflows the prior year.
Next have kept their guidance for sales and profit in the current year after reporting a slightly better than expected 5% rise in profit for 2023-24. They still expected a pretax profit of £960m in 2024-25 on full price sales, up 2.5%.
HSBC Upgrades Shaftesbury to Buy (7 Buys / 3 Holds / 0 Sells)
RBC Downgrades Redrow to Sector Perform from Outperform (4 Buys / 6 Holds / 0 Sells)
RBC Upgrades IAG to Outperform from Sector Perform (8 Buys / 5 Holds / 0 Sells)
UBS Downgrades Entain to Neutral from Buy (13 Buys / 5 Holds / 0 Sells)
UK
Centamin
Direct Line Insurance Group
Dowlais Group
Energean
Ithaca Energy
M&G
Next
US
Accenture
Signet Jewelers
FedEx
Nike
UK
Phoenix Group Holdings
Wetherspoon (JD)
US
None
EU leaders summit
German HCOB Composite PMI
German HCOB Services PMI
German HCOB Manufacturing PMI
EU HCOB Composite PMI
EU HCOB Services PMI
EU Economic Bulletin
EU HCOB Manufacturing PMI
German Business Climate
UK S&P Global/CIPS Manufacturing PMI
UK S&P Global/CIPS Composite PMI
UK S&P Global/CIPS Services PMI
BoE Minutes
BoE MPC Vote
BoE Asset Purchase Facility
BoE Interest Rate Decision
US Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey
US Initial Jobless Claims
US S&P Global Manufacturing PMI
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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