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| Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Intertek Group PLC | 4,905.0 | 6.2% |
| Endeavour Mining PLC | 1,426.0 | 4.2% |
| Marks And Spencer Group PLC | 239.0 | 3.8% |
| Fresnillo PLC | 493.7 | 3.7% |
| SSE PLC | 1,658.5 | 2.1% |
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Ashtead Group PLC | 5,192.0 | -9.4% |
| RS Group PLC | 726.4 | -3.5% |
| Antofagasta PLC | 1,777.5 | -3.3% |
| Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC | 1,898.5 | -2.7% |
| Croda International PLC | 4,671.0 | -2.5% |
| Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 YEAR |
| UK 100 INDEX | 7,646 | 0.1% | -3.6% |
| DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 38,585 | -1.0% | 15.4% |
| DAX INDEX | 17,698 | -0.1% | 13.1% |
| NIKKEI 225 | 40,091 | 0.0% | 42.0% |
| S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 7,734 | 0.1% | 5.5% |
| Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
| WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 78.56 | 0.52% |
| Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 82.39 | 0.43% |
| Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 2,131 | 0.1% |
| Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 385 | 0.2% |
Click graph to enlarge
The UK 100 called to open +11 points at 7,657. The UK 100 looks set to open higher this morning ahead of today’s Spring budget announcement. On Wall Street yesterday, stocks fell for a second session in a row, as declines in major tech names such as Apple dragged the broader market further from record highs recently reached. The Nasdaq pulled back by 1.65% to 15,939.59 as technology stocks felt the brunt of the market’s drop. The Dow Jones lost 404.64 points, or 1.04%, to 38,585.19. The S&P dipped 1.02%, closing at 5,078.65.
ConvaTec report a 2023 pretax profit of $167.4m, up from $81.9m YoY. They expect organic revenue growth of 5-7% in 2024 and are on track to deliver mid-20s% adjusted operating margin in 2026 or 2027.
DS Smith CEO hails “resilient performance, despite tough economic conditions” since Nov 1st as their Like-for-Like corrugated box volumes were flat since Nov, but have improved vs H1. They state that trading and FY outlook is still in line with management expectations.
Ibstock posts a FY23 pretax profit of £30m, down 71% from £105m YoY. They will pay a FY23 total dividend per share of 7p, down 20% from 8.8p YoY. They state that trading at the start of the year has been subdued, expects Improvement later in the year.
Legal & General reported flat operating profit YoY of £1.67bn for 2023, below expectations and in a “challenging” economic environment. Operating profit was forecast at £1.75bn.
Tullow Oil reports a FY23 pretax profit of $96m, down from $442m YoY. They note good progress toward $800m free cash flow target for 2023-2025.
Barclays Downgrades Antofagasta to Underweight (4 Buys / 7 Holds / 2 Sells)
Jefferies Upgrades Experian to Buy from Hold (5 Buys / 3 Holds / 0 Sells)
JP Morgan Upgrades IAG to Overweight from Underweight (8 Buys / 5 Holds / 0 Sells)
RBC Downgrades Antofagasta to Sector Perform from Outperform (4 Buys / 7 Holds / 2 Sells)
UK
Breedon Group
ConvaTec Group
DS Smith
Ibstock
Lancashire Holdings
Legal & General
Rathbone Brothers
Spirent Communications*
Tullow Oil
US
JD.com
UK
Admiral Group
Aviva
Beazley
Coats Group
Darktrace
Elementis
Harbour Energy
ITV
Melrose Industries
PageGroup
Rentokil Initial
Spirax-Sarco Engineering
Tyman
US
Broadcom
Costco Wholesale
DocuSign
MongoDB
German Trade Balance s.a.
EU Retail Sales
UK Budget Report
US ADP Employment Change
Fed’s Beige Book
UK 100 companies going ex-dividend on 7th March 2024:
Rio Tinto
HSBC Holdings
Standard Chartered
Berkeley Group Holdings
UK 250 companies going ex-dividend on 7th March 2024:
Safestore Holdings
Energean
SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust
Assura
PZ Cussons
Law Debenture Corporation
Temple Bar Investment Trust
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income
Ruffer Investment Company
Renishaw
Personal Assets Trust
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