LONDON CLOSE
Blue-chips advanced virtually across the board, as investors moved back into UK equities today, searching for bargains after the recent shake-out.
The FTSE 100 finished 182 points higher at 6,081, with all but three constituents – two of them precious metals miners (Randgold and Fresnillo) – making headway.
Top of the Footsie tree was Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), up 8.7% at 579.5p, even as it revealed underlying earnings virtually halved to US$561.6mln at the half-way point.
Anglo-Aussie mining behemoth BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) was up 5.5% at 1,021p after it maintained its full-year dividend and pledged to cut capital investment from US$11bn in the year just gone to US$8.5bn this year.
Fund managers, not surprisingly, bounced back strongly as global markets recovered. St James’s place (LON:STJ), Schroders (LON:SDR) and Old Mutual (LON:OML) were the best performers among blue-chip money managers, each rising more than 5%.
That put RSA Insurance’s (LON:RSA) 3.9% rise to 514.5p in the shade. The insurer welcomed the long anticipated bid approach from Zurich Insurance, saying it was minded to recommend acceptance of the offer at the indicated level of 550p per share.
Among the mid-caps, James Fisher (LON:FSJ) was on the rocks, down 4.0% at 970.5p, after disappointing interims.
The marine services provider’s revenue was down just a tad at £213.1mln but underlying profit before tax slipped to £20mln from £24.4mln the year before.
In the small cap space, Mosman Oil & Gas (LON:MSMN), having teased us previously about acquisition plans, has revealed it is to acquire producing assets in New Zealand.
The New Zealand and Australia-focused oil exploration and development company is paying NZ$10mln (£4.2mln) to Origin Energy to buy the STEP project, which includes the Rimu, Kauri and Manutahi fields.
The shares shot up 19% to 3.125p after what the company termed a “transformational” deal.
Image Scan (LON:IGE) made a good impression, increasing by one-sixth in value as it announced the first delivery of its new ultra-thin detector panel and new software.
Magnolia Petroleum (LON:MAGP) came up smelling of roses after it told investors it remains cash generative and profitable despite reduced oil prices.
A production update today revealed output of 309 barrels oil equivalent per day (boepd), as at August 1, which is an increase from 281 boepd since the start of 2015.
The shares climbed 4.3% to 0.49p.
InfraStrata (LON:INFA), the independent petroleum exploration and gas storage company, lost more than a third of its value as it revealed Larne Oil & Gas will not, after all, be participating in the PL 1/10 licence in Northern Ireland, having run into funding difficulties.
MID-SESSION WRAP
Investors moved back into UK equities today, searching for bargains after the recent shake-out.
After suffering its worst day since 2009, shedding 288 points, the FTSE 100 had clawed back 175 points by 1.30pm, up 3% at 6,078.
Just one FTSE 100 constituent was missing out on the party; precious metals miner Randgold (LON:RRS) was down 2p at 4,146p, as this not a day for risk averse investments.
Top of the Footsie tree was Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), up 7.6% at 573.5p, even as it revealed underlying earnings virtually halved to US$561.6mln at the half-way point.
Anglo-Aussie mining behemoth BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) was up 6.4% at 1,029p after it maintained its full-year dividend and pledged to cut capital investment from US$11bn in the year just gone to US$8.5bn this year.
On any other day, RSA Insurance’s (LON:RSA) bid-fuelled rise of 4.8% to 518.5p would likely have propelled it to the top of the blue-chip rankings, but it has not even made the top 10.
Zurich Insurance has made a long-awaited approach to the insurer, valuing it at £5.6bn.
“Traders will be welcoming a revised offer from Zurich as evidence the Swiss insurer is still serious about the deal. RSA has cautioned that the situation is ‘still fluid,’ but there’s not much else out there likely to get a bite at the moment. It does beg the question though – was the disclosure deliberately made yesterday, in the middle of a global market rout? If so, that’s some shrewd and arguably ingenious behaviour!” said Augustin Eden, at Accendo Markets.
Among the mid-caps, James Fisher (LON:FSJ) was on the rocks, down 3.5% at 976p, after disappointing interims.
The marine services provider’s revenue was down just a tad at £213.1mln but underlying profit before tax slipped to £20mln from £24.4mln the year before.
In the small cap space, Totally (LON:TLY) was wanted, adding one-ninth to its market value, after it raised £1.05mln through a share subscription.
The shares advanced to 0.25p as sit provisionally issued shares at 0.175p a pop, though thanks to a proposed share consolidation the shares will actually be priced at 17.5p.
The City welcomed news that Bob Holt, chairman of Mears Group, will take over from Dr Michael Sinclair as non-executive chairman of the healthcare services provider.
Magnolia Petroleum (LON:MAGP) came up smelling of roses after it told investors it remains cash generative and profitable despite reduced oil prices.
A production update today revealed output of 309 barrels oil equivalent per day (boepd), as at August 1, which is an increase from 281 boepd since the start of 2015.
The shares climbed 6.38% to 0.5p.
InfraStrata (LON:INFA), the independent petroleum exploration and gas storage company, lost more than a third of its value as it revealed Larne Oil & Gas will not, after all, be participating in the PL 1/10 licence in Northern Ireland, having run into funding difficulties.
MOST FOLLOWED
If you lost a few bob in yesterday’s stock market crash, spare a thought for Wang Jianlin, who saw his estimated net worth fall by US$3.6bn yesterday.
Of course, as that was only a bit more than one-tenth of his total wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the chairman and founder of property and entertainment company Dalian Wander is still worth about US$35bn, so he’s unlikely to be wandering the streets of Beijing, rattling a begging bowl.
He’s also still China’s richest man, and he’s still worth US$6bn more now than he was at the start of the year, so he’s unlikely to be shopping at Poundland, even were that geographically possible.
Talking of which, Poundland (LON:PLND) has provisionally been given the all-clear by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to buy its rival, 99p Stores.
The CMA said there are enough competitors at the bottom end of the market to ensure the combined entity – sadly not about to rename itself BOGOF (buy one, get one free) Stores – would not abuse its leading position in the discount sector.
Judging by the latest grocery sales data from Kantar Worldpanel, the cheaper end of the market is going to get more crowded, as supermarkets reluctantly compete more than ever on price.
“Despite the accelerating British economy like-for like grocery prices are still falling, with a representative basket of everyday items now 1.7% cheaper than in 2014,” Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said.
Tesco (LON:TSCO) saw its sales ease 0.9% year-on-year in the 12 weeks to 16 August, but it is still comfortably the sector leader with a market share of 28.3%.
Reports indicate the cash-strapped grocer, which needs to invest heavily to revitalise its performance in its home market, has received three bids for its South Korean unit, with the bids pitched around the £2.76bn mark.
There’s been a bit of mergers & acquisitions news about, with Zurich Insurance finally making its long-awaited move on RSA Insurance (LON:RSA), proposing a takeover at 550p cash per share that has received the conditional approval of the RSA board.
Elsewhere, Global Invacom (LON:GINV) has lost more than a fifth of its market value after completing its US$11.6mln acquisition of satellite communications rival Skyware.
Meanwhile, MXC Capital (LON:MXCP) has completed its acquisition of its parent company MXC Holdings, making things a whole lot easier to understand on the ownership front.
"I am pleased to announce the acquisition we outlined at the time of our placing in May this year which consolidates all MXC investments and activities into a single entity and is the final step in the formation of the company as a quoted merchant bank, specialising in investing in technology companies," said Peter Rigg, chairman of MXC.
Lastly, today’s “we have no idea why our share price is moving so much” announcement is from Great Western Mining (LON:GWMO).
The shares have doubled over the last week and reached 0.90p at one point today, but have ebbed to 0.668p, up 6% on the day.
LONDON MID-SESSION WRAP
Having licked their wounds overnight after falling out of the saddle, investors were in the mood to get back on the equities horse this morning.
After suffering its worst day since 2009, shedding 288 points, the FTSE 100 had clawed back 148 points by 10.40am, up 2.52% at 6,047.
The FTSE 250 index was up 2.17% at 16,566, while the tiddlers seem to be getting a little overlooked in this rally, with the FTSE Small Cap up 1.8% while the AIM All-share was up 1.33%.
Just one FTSE 100 constituent was missing out on the party; precious metals miner Randgold (LON:RRS) was down 7p at 4,141p, as the appeal of gold stocks as a refuge from market turbulence is not applicable today.
Top of the Footsie tree was Glencore (LON:GLEN), up 9.3%. The commodities trading and mining company led the fight-back by the sector after yesterday’s shake-out, closely followed by Anglo-Aussie mining behemoth BHP Billiton (LON:BLT), which was up 7.7% at 1,042p after it maintained its full-year dividend and pledged to cut capital investment from US$11bn in the year just gone to US$8.5bn this year.
Elsewhere in the mining sector, Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) was up 5.7% at 563.5p, even as it revealed underlying earnings virtually halved to US$561.6mln at the half-way point.
On any other day, RSA Insurance’s (LON:RSA) bid-fuelled rise of 4.6% would likely have propelled it to the top of the blue-chip rankings, but it barely made the top 10.
Zurich Insurance has made a long-awaited approach to the insurer, valuing it at £5.6bn.
Among the mid-caps, James Fisher (LON:FSJ) was on the rocks, down 4.8% at 963p, after its disappointing interims.
The marine services provider’s revenue was down just a tad at £213.1mln but underlying profit before tax slipped to £20mln from £24.4mln the year before.
In contrast, Gulf Marine Services (LON:GMS) was buoyant after its half-year numbers were released. The provider of self-propelled self-elevating support vessels saw underlying earnings rise to £60.1mln from £58.6mln the year before, and said it expects the second half of the year will be better still, meaning the full-year outcome should be broadly in line with expectations.
Elsewhere in the small cap space, Totally (LON:TLY) was wanted, adding one-ninth to its market value, after it raised £1.05mln through a share subscription.
The shares advanced to 0.25p as sit provisionally issued shares at 0.175p a pop, though thanks to a proposed share consolidation the shares will actually be priced at 17.5p.
The City welcomed news that Bob Holt, chairman of Mears Group, will take over from Dr Michael Sinclair as non-executive chairman of the healthcare services provider.
InfraStrata (LON:INFA), the independent petroleum exploration and gas storage company, lost more than a third of its value as it revealed Larne Oil & Gas will not, after all, be participating in the PL 1/10 licence in Northern Ireland, having run into funding difficulties.
LONDON OPEN
The London market regained its nerve on Tuesday after hitting its lowest level since 2012 on Monday.
The FTSE 100 Index rose 83 points to 5,981, paring some of yesterday's losses but still not managing to break back above 6000.
Chinese stock markets declined again overnight and analysts were slightly mystified at the lack of a further intervention from Beijing.
Craig Erlam at foreign exchange group OANDA said: "It is surprising that the People’s Bank of China has not stepped up support following the moves on “Black Monday” either with a cut to interest rates or the reserve requirement ration for banks.
"Many had expected the central bank to do so over the weekend which may suggest that it has become more reluctant to intervene just for the sake of the market, despite doing so already this year."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 589 points or 3.6% to 15,871 by the close and gold lifted 0.5% to US$1,148 an ounce as investors sought safety in the precious metal.
Oil prices lifted sentiment, with Brent crude gaining 1.8% to US$43.49 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate lifting 2% to US$39.03.
On the corporate front, RSA Insurance (LON:RSA) was second in the risers after Zurich Insurance made a long-awaited approach to the insurer valuing it at £5.6bn. Shares gained 24.75p to 519.75p.
BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) increased 60.5p to 1028p as the miner posted lower profits but said it expected China's economy to continue to grow at 7% this year.
Oilex (LON:OEX) rose 0.05p to 1.65p as it continued to sell gas from the Cambay field into the local market with 100% availability, and it is currently advancing towards a ramp-up in volumes.
MARKET PREVIEW
Early indications point to a better day for the stock market, with some expectations even pointing to a positive start in London.
Following on from yesterday’s sharp fall in global equity prices, today is so far not predicted to be another ‘black’ day.
Some £80bn was wiped off the FTSE 100 yesterday as traders and investors gave way to overwhelming fears of a collapse in China.
You knew for sure that Monday’s was more than a regular sell-off by late morning (in London) when our American cousins woke up, the Wall Street futures dumped lower and commentators increasingly felt the need to insert a colour alongside the day’s name.
The Black Monday moniker had undoubtedly taken as the Dow Jones later gave up around 1,000 points shortly after opening.
The volatility was huge.
In the end it was Wall Street’s single worst day for about four years, though wasn’t quite as bad as some feared at some points earlier in the day.
Falling 588 points, 3.57%, the Dow Jones closed at 15,871. The S&P 500 meanwhile ended the day almost 4% lower at 1,893 and the Nasdaq slipped nearly 4% to 4.526.
Overnight, Asia saw the rout come back around though key indices swung wildly back and forth.
The Shanghai Composite started as it had finished a day before, opening sharply (about 6%) lower before rebounding back – only to give the points up again. At about 6:45am in London, the benchmark was down some 186 points, 5.8%, at 3,021.
Elsewhere, there were some more stable looking moves. Japan’s Nikkei was down 270 points, about 1.5%, at 18,270 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed less than 1%.
Australia’s commodity and mining heavy ASX 200 benchmark fared much better. It was up 103 points, 2%, for the session at 5,112.
So, as we look to London’s open what will be the market’s colour for today?
The hope is for a day for buyers, that stock market prices will be seen on screens in turquoise blue.
But, such is the volatility it could also it turn out to be another bad day, even if not as bad a Monday.
So, perhaps it’ll be a dark greyish taupe of a Tuesday?
Lacking even the slightest amount of synaesthesia - the rare neurological phenomenon where people perceive numbers as colours - the best indicator will have to come from the City’s spread betters and CFD providers.
IG Markets at 6:45am was calling the FTSE 100 just a couple of points higher, at 5,904 to 5,908.