- FTSE 100 3 points lower at 7,724
- Oil prices at four-month high
- Eurozone inflation slows to 2.6%
16:43pm: FTSE 100 ends day in red
London's blue-chip index closed the day 4 points lower at 7,722.
15:59pm: FTSE 100 to close flat
The FTSE 100 is set to close flat on Monday, having failed to pick up any momentum throughout the day.
London's top index is down around 3 points at 7,724 with the largest movement coming from a 4.5% fall in Phoenix Group shares.
Phoenix Group, Britain's largest pension firm, revealed over the weekend that it has set aside £70 million in a bid to cover the costs of reducing customer charges.
Other fallers included BT Group and Vodafone, both of which fell 3%.
It comes after Vodafone targetted BT with its "Great British Telecoms Switch" campaign, offering customers £100 if they switch over to its services.
FTSE 100 risers included British American Tobacco and Beazley, which lifted 2.5%.
The FTSE 250 also kept flat on Monday, having lifted 14 points to 19,498.
Currys was the index's top riser after jumping 6% on the back of a profit upgrade after it said it experienced a better-than-expected festive sales period.
15:40pm: Rate cut to come "quite soon, but not yet"
Economists believe the Bank of England will approach Wednesday's meeting with the attitude that rates should be cut "quite soon, but not yet".
Martin Beck, the chief economist advisor to the EY ITEM club, believes the majority of the committee will point to elevated price and wage pressures as reasons for holding rates at 5.25%.
"Although the economy was weaker in late 2023 than the Bank of England had anticipated, activity looks to have begun 2024 on a better footing, while the tax cuts announced in the recent Budget should provide some boost to demand," he said.
"New Labour Force Survey (LFS) data suggests the jobs market is tighter than previously thought, with the unemployment rate much lower and economic inactivity significantly higher than expected.
"Given the likelihood of another significant fall in bills in July following recent further declines in wholesale gas prices, combined with a slowdown in food price and goods inflation, the EY ITEM Club thinks there’s now a good chance inflation will subsequently stay below target for the rest of the year."
Beck predicts that March's meeting will see another three-way split, with the majority voting in favour of keeping rates at 5.25%.
15:19pm: Tata Steel ceases operation of coke ovens at Port Talbot
Tata Steel is set to stop operations of its coke ovens at Port Talbot in Wales, as the plant suffers a "deterioration of operational stability."
In a statement, the group said: "Tata Steel UK will increase imports of coke to offset the impact of the coke oven closures.”
Coke ovens, which help make coal and are a vital part of the steelmaking process, are just one area of closures taking place at the Port Talbot plant.
In January, Tata Steel said it would also be shutting down the plant's blast furnaces, with nearly 3,000 jobs set to be axed.
14:50pm: Legal & General mulls sale of housebuilder Cala Group
FTSE 100 insurance firm Legal & General Group is said to be mulling the sale of its housebuilding subsidiary Cala Group.
According to a Sky News report, Cala Group, which comprises Cala Homes and sister company Legal & General Homes, could fetch £750 million.
L&G’s incoming chief executive António Simões called Cala "a very strong business" during a February earnings call, when shareholders questioned the future ownership on the business.
A spokesperson from Legal & General told Proactive: “Legal & General regularly review and conduct conversations about the future of all our various investments and subsidiary businesses as we seek to maximise value for our shareholders”.
14:31pm: Hawkish Catherine Mann reappointed to Monetary Policy Committtee
Catherine Mann, one of the Bank of England's most hawkish members, has been reappointed for another three years as an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
Mann was initially scheduled to depart from the committee at the end of August, but she will now keep her role until 2027.
"Reappointments are not automatic and each case is considered on its own merits. Dr. Catherine L Mann was reappointed to the MPC following consideration by the Chancellor of a number of factors including the diversity of the current committee and its balance of skills and experience," the Treasury said.
The MPC is closing in on becoming the first-ever majority-female committee when Clare Lombardelli joins as deputy governer in July.
2.08pm: Sluggish earnings growth hurting LSEG valuation
Analysts at UBS have pointed to the London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSE:LSEG)’s lack of earnings momentum as a reason for its relative undervaluation.
The statement came with a neutral stock rating and 10,000p price target.
Since the end of 2022, LSEG's consensus EPS for 2024/25 has been reduced by 11-12%, contrasting with the more stable or positive revisions for its European and US counterparts.
Though UBS has a bullish outlook on LSEG’s long-term opportunities, the bank does not anticipate a significant acceleration in revenue or substantial upgrades to consensus EPS in the near term.
UBS analysts have a 10,000p price target on LSEG stock against a 9,406p publication price.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 was just six points higher at 7,733 in mid-afternoon trades
13:42pm: Wall Street opens higher as tech stocks lift
US stocks have opened higher on Monday after gains from Nvidia helped lift the leading indexes ahead of the Fed meeting later this week.
The Dow Jones lifted around 112 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained around 0.9% and 1.3% respectively.
Nvidia shares are 4% higher after a couple of negative sessions last week, with investors experiencing the early benefits of the AI chipmaker's week-long GTC conference.
Apple shares are up around 2%, while Google owner Alphabet is trading 7% higher after reports revealed the two were in talks to bring the search engine's AI chatbot to iPhones.
Google is negotiating with Apple over plans to implement its Gemini chatbot into the iPhone's built-in AI tools such as Siri.
It would provide a huge boost for Google after its AI chatbot has come under criticism for it overly-diverse instructions which led to it producing images of black Nazis.
Apple is believed to also be working in-house on its own version of generative AI technology, aiming to provide Siri with similar capabilities to ChatGPT and Gemini.
13:24pm: Deloitte announces biggest shakeup in a decade
Deloitte has announced "the biggest overhaul of its global operations in a decade" leaving workers facing a shakeup of roles as the Big Four firm looks to cut costs.
As part of the changes, the accountancy group will cut its divisions from five to four: audit and assurance; strategy, risk and transactions; technology and transformation; and tax and legal.
The accountancy giant said the changes would help staff focus more on clients rather than managing colleagues.
An exact figure on the cost savings is yet to have been given, but reports say it will provide reductions across the firm's global operations, which covers more than 150 countries.
12:59am: easyJet to launch new base at Birmingham Airport
easyJet is launching its first new British base since 2012, with the airline expecting it to result in cheaper fares, extended travel options and more jobs.
The new base is set to be developed at Birmingham Airport and will see 140 new roles for pilots and crew members, while indirectly creating a further 1,200 support roles.
It represents easyJet's first new base since it launched at Southend Airport.
A new site will mean the airline no longer needs to use aeroplanes from other airports when flying to and from Birmingham.
Flights from the airport each week are expected to increase by 50% due to the changes, while 16 new routes will be added this summer including trips to Antalya in Turkey and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.
easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “This is going to provide a huge amount of additional connectivity, which not only will serve the holidays community, but also a very critical part of the business community as well.”
12:32pm: US stocks to open higher ahead of Fed meeting
Wall Street is set to open slightly higher on Monday ahead of the Fed's interest rate announcement on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones is set to open around 100 points higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also expected to jump.
Interest rates are expected to remain unchanged at 5.5%, with hotter-than-expected inflation data from last week leaving investors unsure about a June rate cut.
Nasdaq said it suffered an issue regarding connectivity and stock orders, however, this issue has now been resolved.
Nvidia shares are up around 3% in premarket trading ahead of its GTC conference, which will see leading figures in the AI community showcase their latest developments.
Google owner Alphabet lifted around 5% after reports said it was in talks with Apple to implement its Gemini AI chatbot into future iPhones.
12:08pm: Bitcoin starts week slowly after tough Sunday
Bitcoin has started the week 0.2% lower at around US$68,200 after it dropped to a 12-day low on Sunday.
The benchmark cryptocurrency, which has been on a rip in 2024 due to large-scale inflows into spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds, was under selling pressure at the end of last week amid a bout of profit taking.
It hit an all-time high of nearly $74,000 on Thursday before falling as low as $64,780 in weekend trades.
Matteo Greco, research analyst at Fineqia said: "Notably, the BTC halving is approximately one month away, historically preceding cycle peaks between 6 and 12 months later. If historical patterns repeat, the current cycle's peak could occur in late 2024 or the first half of 2025."
11:42am: Currys profit lift vindicates takeover rebuff - analyst
Analysts believe the decision by Currys to turn down takeover offers has been reinforced by today's profit guidance lift.
The electronics retailer was able to add around 3% to its market value after it revealed sales during the festive period were better than expected.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The retailer argued Elliott’s bids undervalued the business, implying they didn’t reflect the progress it had made in turning its fortunes around.
"Fortunately for chief executive Alex Baldock, he’s been able to stump up the goods to show that Currys is doing perfectly fine on its own and doesn’t need to be swallowed up by a third party.
“It's important to note the line ‘still-challenging markets’ in the trading update. Currys might want to lean harder on its services arm to encourage people to get broken electricals fixed as shifting new products is not going to be easy.”
11:30am: FTSE 100 attempts to lift higher
The FTSE 100 is attempting to build on its early gains on Monday, with the index up around 22 points.
Top risers include Ocado and Beazley, which are both up around 2.5%.
Insurer Beazley's rise comes after it was revealed it leads the hull policy on MV Abdullah, the second ship to be hijacked by Somali pirates since a resurgence in their activity in 2023, reports revealed.
Fallers include Phoenix Group, down 4%, after the UK's largest pension firm was forced to set aside £70 million in a bid to cover the costs of reducing customer charges.
BT Group slipped almost 3% after an Ofcom investigation found Openreach failed to meet three quality of service standards in the leased lines and wholesale local access markets in the 2022/23 financial year.
However, the telecom watchdog noted that Openreach didn't benefit financially from these breaches and therefore said it would not impose a fine on BT's subsidiary.
10:55am: Gas prices continue to rise as outages continue
Natural gas prices in Europe have risen for a fourth consecutive day on Monday as concerns mount over the output from global energy providers.
The region's benchmark contract lifted by 7.7% over the weekend, marking the largest intraday jump since early 2024.
Prices initially plunged by close to 30% at the start of the year, but have been ticking higher since.
Outages at gas liquefaction facilities in countries including the US and Malaysia have placed additional pressure on prices.
Dutch front-month futures, the benchmark for gas prices, lifted 5.1% to around €28 per megawatt-hour, while the UK equivalent rose 5.3% to 71p per therm.
10:36am: Eurozone inflation slows in February
Eurozone inflation slowed to 2.6% in February from 2.8% in January, Eurostat has revealed.
Monday's figure reiterates the region's flash figure from the end of last month and sees inflation at its slowest since November 2023.
Food, alcohol and tobacco inflation also slowed from 5.6% in January to 3.9% last month.
Energy prices in the European region also sped up from January, with February prices 3.7% lower than in 2023, compared to being 6.1% lower at the start of the year.
❖ EUROZONE CPI (MOM) (FEB) ACTUAL: 0.6% VS -0.4% PREVIOUS; EST 0.6%
❖ EUROZONE CPI (YOY) (FEB) ACTUAL: 2.6% VS 2.8% PREVIOUS; EST 2.6%
❖ EUROZONE CORE CPI (MOM) (FEB) ACTUAL: 0.7% VS -0.9% PREVIOUS; EST 0.7%
❖ EUROZONE CORE CPI (YOY) (FEB) ACTUAL: 3.1% VS 3.3% PREVIOUS;…
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) March 18, 2024
10:24am: Oil prices soar to four-month highs
Oil prices have reached a four-month high after Brent crude rose 1% to US$86.16 per barrel and US crude reached US$81.86.
It comes after data from China revealed it has started to experience an uptick in its factory output and investments, paving the way for a greater demand for energy.
Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, also believes geopolitical tensions are pushing prices higher.
He said: "Ongoing tensions in the Middle East persist as a significant worry, with potential escalations threatening to disrupt crude supply from the Gulf and crucial shipping routes.
"Supply anxieties were exacerbated over the weekend following additional attacks on Russian refineries, resulting in an estimated 7% reduction in the country’s output."
9:57am: World's largest solar panel manufacturer to cut thousands of jobs
Longi, the world's largest solar panel manufacturer, is set to axe around one-third of its global workforce as the industry continues suffering from soaring costs and increasing competition.
Some 30% of workers are expected to be cut as part of a reduction of its workforce which began in November last year.
At its peak last year, the Chinese company employed around 80,000 before the industry began to suffer a downturn.
Manufacturers were forced to sell at below cost in some situations after the prices of solar panels dropped sharply in 2023.
9:46am: British Land lifts as analysts welcome new deal
Shares in British Land are up 3% after it announced the launch of 50/50 joint venture with Royal London Asset Management to redevelop Meta's old HQ.
As per the partnership, the two will undertake the development of 1 Triton Square to turn it into a world-class science and innovation building, fitted with both lab and office space.
Shore Capital analysts welcomed the move just a week after they upgraded British Land to highlight the "growing positivity on London’s West Office market."
The UK broker noted that "net rents for fully-fitted labs can demonstrate a 40% premium over existing office space."
'We believe this a good move by the company, releasing some early gains while also helping advance the overall delivery of the scheme," Shore Capital said.
9:25am: FTSE 100 ticks higher as Pfizer sells down stake
The FTSE 100 is up 6 points on Monday, with rises and falls from the likes of Ocado (+4%), Reckitt Benckiser (+2%), Phoenix Group (-4%) and United Utilities (-3%).
8.57am: The morning so far
The FTSE 100 blue-chip index barely budged in early Monday trades, with little action on the macroeconomic front helping to move the dial.
Not even housebuilders felt the urge to rally following some promising house price data emerging from Rightmove.
According to the website, the average asking price for a house rose 1.5% in the four weeks to 9 March, marking the strongest four-week increase in 10 months.
that said, they still remain below their May 2023 peak, while the average time period to find a buyer has extended to 71 days, a five-year seasonal high.
On the company news front, pharma giant Pzifer said it is reducing its stake in Haleon, the British joint venture with GSK, through a secondary share offer in the US. Pfizer’s stake will therefore reduce from 32% to 24%.
Currys PLC (LSE:CURY) revised its profit guidance higher after post-peak (referring to the 10 weeks ended 6 January) sales wound up “stronger than the group’s expectations”.
This follows last week’s news that JD.com and Elliot Advisors will not be pursuing a takeover of the group. Shares added 3.8% this morning.
Aviva plc announced the completion of its exit from Singapore Life Holdings through a £937 million disposal.
Meanwhile, FTSE 250-listed manufacturing group Marshalls PLC (LSE:MSLH) decided to slash its dividend after disclosing a 41% year-on-year decrease in profit before tax. Shares proceeded to fall more than 7%.
8.47am: House prices rise 1.5%
The average asking price for a residential property rose 1.5% in the four weeks to 9 March, marking the strongest four-week increase in house prices in 10 months, even though they remain below their May 2023 peak.
According to Rightmove's latest data, the average UK asking price is now £368,118.
Rightmove noted that the average time period to find a buyer has extended to 71 days, a five-year seasonal high.
"Sellers are right to feel more confident and optimistic this year, but buyer affordability remains stretched and higher mortgage rates are an ongoing challenge," commented Tim Bannister, Rightmove's director of property science.
Mortgage rates have moved higher in recent weeks, with NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) joining Santander and The Co-Operative Bank in being the latest lenders to announce rate hikes.
8.28am: Bitcoin bounces off 12-day lows
Bitcoin bounced off a 12-day low on Sunday to shoot up nearly 5% against the US dollar.
The benchmark cryptocurrency has been on a rip in 2024 due to large-scale inflows into spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
But the tail end of last week saw bitcoin fall back from an all-time high of nearly $74,000 to less than $64,000.
The BTC/USD pair is once again in the red territory this morning, falling 1.1%. At the time of writing, the pair was swapping for $67,600.
Back to the London stock market, the FTSE 100 is currently trading 10 points higher at 7,737.
8.05am: Currys increases profit guidance
Electronics retailer Currys PLC (LSE:CURY) has revised its profit guidance higher after post-peak (referring to the 10 weeks ended 6 January) sales wound up “stronger than the group’s expectations”.
Adjusted profit before tax for the current year is expected to be at least £115 million, whereas Currys had previously guided between £105-115 million.
Chief executive Alex Baldock commented: "We've been working to get the Nordics back on track, while keeping up (UK and Ireland’s) encouraging momentum.
“Both are progressing well, despite still-challenging markets, and we now feel confident to raise this year's profit expectations to at least the top of our previous guidance.
“Stronger trading, selling more of the solutions and services that boost margins and build customers for life, and strong cost discipline have all been important.”
Currys added in a statement: “The disposal of Greece is on track to complete in the first half of April, resulting in the group finishing the financial year in a net cash position.”
Shares added 0.3% in opening exchanges.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 opened largely flat, adding three points to 7,730 at the time of writing.
7.49am: Pfizer to reduce stake in Haleon
Pharma giant Pzifer will reduce its stake in British consumer healthcare company Haleon through a secondary share offer in the US.
Pfizer’s stake in the British big cap, which was formed as a joint venture between GSK and Pfizer in 2019, will therefore reduce from 32% to 24%.
The offering price for the 630 million shares will be determined by a bookbuilding process, but is estimated to be valued around £2 billion.
Haleon intends to buy back around £315 million of its own shares.
Citigroup and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) are serving as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners in the offer.
7.36am: Marshalls slashes dividend
FTSE 250-listed manufacturing group Marshalls PLC (LSE:MSLH) has disclosed its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2023.
Revenues fell from £719.4 million in 2022 to £671.2 million in 2023, marking a 7% decline.
Adjusted profit before tax saw a significant decrease, falling by 41% to £53.3 million in 2023.
Marshalls decided to slash its full-year dividend by 42% to 5.7p as a result, contributing to a total year dividend decrease of 47% to 8.3p.
7.20am: Aviva exits Singapore Life
Aviva this morning announced the completion of its exit from Singapore Life Holdings through a £937 million disposal.
The FTSE 100-listed insurance firm first announced the exit of its 25.9% stake in Singapore Life to Sumitomo Life in September 2023.
Aviva’s chief executive Amanda Blanc said it was to simplify the business’ global operations while focusing on the UK, Ireland and Canada markets.
7.10am: FTSE 100 to open higher
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 13 points higher at 7,745 this Monday after closing flat on Friday.
Inflation data is due this Wednesday, with hopes pinned on a successful year-on-year fall to 3.6%.
This print will set the scene for Thursday’s Bank of England gathering, when policymakers will declare whether interest rates hold at 5.25% or fall for the first time since August 2023.
Though the BoE is widely expected to hold at 5.25%, the attention will be on forward guidance and any indication of a policy pivot in the near future.
On the company news front, Seeing Machines Ltd (AIM:SEE, OTC:SEEMF) has its interims out this morning, while Marshalls PLC (LSE:MSLH) publishes its annual results.