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| Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
| 3I Group PLC | 2,750.0 | 8.8% |
| Next PLC | 9,050.0 | 6.4% |
| St. James’s Place PLC | 463.3 | 6.0% |
| Airtel Africa PLC | 98.1 | 5.4% |
| Anglo American PLC | 1,932.4 | 5.1% |
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC | 1,866.5 | -4.2% |
| Centrica PLC | 124.9 | -1.6% |
| British American Tobacco PLC | 2,368.5 | -1.1% |
| Beazley PLC | 686.5 | -0.9% |
| Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC | 4,298.0 | -0.8% |
| Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 YEAR |
| UK 100 INDEX | 7,883 | 1.9% | 4.2% |
| DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 39,781 | 0.7% | 24.2% |
| DAX INDEX | 18,179 | 0.9% | 19.5% |
| NIKKEI 225 | 40,888 | 0.2% | 48.9% |
| S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 7,771 | -0.2% | 10.8% |
| Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
| WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 80.51 | -0.69% |
| Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 85.21 | -0.66% |
| Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 2,165 | -0.8% |
| Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 402 | -1.1% |
Click graph to enlarge
The UK 100 called to open +2 points at 7,885. The UK 100 looks set to open marginally higher this morning, this comes after the UK’s blue-chip index added 145 points yesterday to close at a 6 month high. Retail sales data out this morning showed a decrease of 0.4%, better than the expected 0.7% decline. Stateside yesterday saw stocks climb, adding to the previous session’s gains, driving the major averages to new record closing levels. The Dow Jones jumped 269.24 points, or 0.68%, to close at 39,781.37. The S&P advanced 0.32% to end at 5,241.53, while the Nasdaq edged up 0.20% to finish at 16,401.84.
Phoenix Group Holdings aims to generate operating cash of £1.4bn and pay down £500m in debt by 2026. They reported an adjusted operating profit before tax of £617m for the year ended Dec 31st, compared with company-compiled analyst estimates of £599m.
Wetherspoon (JD) reported higher H1 profit, supported by a gradual easing of costs and an increase in customers coming to grab drinks and food. They reported a profit before tax of £36m, compared with £4.6m profit a year ago.
Berenberg Downgrades Redrow to Hold from Buy (4 Buys / 6 holds / 0 Sells)
HSBC Downgrades Ascential to Hold from Buy (4 Buys / 1 Hold / 0 Sells)
RBC Downgrades St James’s Place to Sector Perform from Outperform (6 Buys / 4 Holds / 0 Sells)
UK
Phoenix Group Holdings
Wetherspoon (JD)
US
None
UK
Kingfisher
Octopus Renewable Infrastructure Trust
US
None
EU leaders summit
UK GfK Consumer Confidence
UK Retail Sales ex-Fuel
UK Retail Sales
US S&P Global Services PMI
UK 100 companies going ex-dividend on 21st March 2024:
M&G
Taylor Wimpey
Smith & Nephew
Prudential
Melrose Industries
UK 250 companies going ex-dividend on 21st March 2024:
Ithaca Energy
Moneysupermarket.com Group
Primary Health Properties
Fidelity European Trust
Travis Perkins
Volution Group
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