FTSE 100 in late swoon
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn promises to cooperate in investigation into Russia's alleged involvement in last year's presidential election.
Wall Street tumbles
Close: UK stocks follow US stocks lower
The FTSE 100 just about kept its head above the 7,300 level at the close of play after a late slide on Friday afternoon.
Fears that President Trump might be impeached resurfaced after it emerged that former national security adviser Michael Flynn promised to cooperate fully with the special counsel's investigation into Russia's alleged involvement in last year's presidential election.
Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, though Trump's legal mouthpiece, Ty Cobb, said Flynn's guilty plea did not implicate the president in any wrong-doing.
The FTSE 100 index fell 26 points to 7,300.
3:00pm: FTSE 100 edges into positive territory
The FTSE 100 edged into positive territory - up 8.5 points or 0.2% trading at 7,339.
In New York, the Dow Jones started Friday down 55 points or 0.23% at 24,216 while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq benchmarks were down 0.15% and 0.36% respectively.
It comes as an economic report revealed a bigger than expected contraction in US manufacturing activity, for the month of November.
1:15am: Bubble watch – Bitcoin more Google searched than Trump, KK and North Korea combined
After a record breaking run this past week Bitcoin remained very much in demand on Friday with the cryptocurrency still above the US$10,000 marker, priced at US$10,273.
The spotlight is such that, in Google, Bitcoin has out-trended Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian and North Korea combined.
Friday also brought Bitcoin to another milestone in its maturity, as US financial derivative regulators approved proposals for trading in Bitcoin futures – the CME and CBOE are expected carry contracts.
Commentary and sniping from high profile bankers such as Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs chief executive, who in his most recent soundbite said that the high level of volatility means the cryptocurrency isn’t suitable for the investment bank to be involved with.
Moving 20% on a daily basis “doesn't feel like a currency, doesn't feel like a store of value," the Goldman boss said.
Unlike JP Morgan rival Jamie Dimon, however, Balkfein apparently remains open to Bitcoin and cryprocurrencies in the future.
12:30pm: FTSE 100 stays negative, Wall Street seen lower ahead of open
The FTSE 100 remained in negative territory by Friday lunch, down 15 points or 0.2% trading at 7,311.
Wall Street futures also pointed lower before the open. The Dow Jones was indicated 76 points lower to 24,198, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also stumbling.
12:30pm: FTSE 100 stays negative, Wall Street seen lower ahead of open
The FTSE 100 remained in negative territory by Friday lunch, down 15 points or 0.2% trading at 7,311.
Wall Street futures also pointed lower before the open. The Dow Jones was indicated 76 points lower to 24,198, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also stumbling.
11:00am: FTSE 100 extends losses, down 36 points
The FTSE 100 losses widened by late morning, with the blue-chip benchmark down 36 points to 7,290.
London’s mining stocks were on the back foot due to weaker Chinese manufacturing statistics, denting expectations for demand.
Vedanta Resources Plc (LON:VED) fell 1.25% to 683.86p, while Antofagasta Plc (LON:ANTO) was 0.8% lower at 902p.
Rio Tinto Plc (LON: RIO) and BHP Billiton plc (LON:BLT) were down 0.8% and 0.56% respectively.
Elsewhere, Royal Mail PLC (LON:RM) shares were down just over 4%, changing hands at 424p, as not one but two brokers downgraded the postal group - Deutsche Bank and Jefferies both marked Royal Mail down.
A broker downgrade also had Babcock International Group Plc (LON: BAB) lower, as it slipped 21p or 3% to 675.5p.
Destiny Pharma plc (LON:DEST) shares gained 24p or 20% to 139p as it unveiled a new tie-up with a Chinese partner, including a £3mln equity investment.
Firestone Diamonds Plc (LON:FDL) shed around 30% to 13.5p, accounting for a new £18.5mln equity funding.
10:15am: Crude prices trade positively after OPEC meeting
Crude prices were trading positively on Friday, with Brent up 0.8% to US$63.14 per barrel, after Thursday’s news that OPEC will extend its intervention in the oil market.
“The Opec meeting ended up with what everyone expected, a maintenance of cuts through to the end of 2018,” oil companies expert Malcolm Graham Wood said in his daily blog.
“There was a modest tip of the hat to Russia by agreeing to a ‘production review’ at next June’s meeting which may be interesting. There is no certainty that at that stage things will look that much better, after all if Opec’s predictions are right the big call on its production will be in H2 not H1.”
He added: “Given the ongoing worries about non-OPEC production I consider the oil price to be in pretty good nick, time will tell as to the efficiency and stayability of shale and oil sands but one has the confidence that if the price falls back their production falls back too.”
9:45am: FTSE 100 backs off, chart-watchers eye support levels
The FTSE 100 backed off in Friday morning’s trade, down 14 points or 0.2% to 7,312, and chart watchers are looking anxiously at the support levels for the blue-chip benchmark.
“The question now is whether this level [7,300] holds up or is merely a pause amid the bearish flag from recent 7580 highs towards September 7200 lows,” said Mike van Dulken, market analyst at Accendo Markets.
“Bulls need a break above 7335, bears a retest of 7300.”
8:40am: FTSE 100 reclaims some lost ground; all eyes on manufacturing data
The FTSE 100 started the new day in better fettle than it ended at the close of trading yesterday, advancing 18 points to 7,344.90.
Friday is all about economic data as we are set to receive health checks on the state of manufacturing not just here in the UK but also in mainland Europe and the US.
The UK manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) is expected to be 56.6, up from 56.3 a month earlier. If that is correct, it will be the best reading for three months.
For those who aren’t familiar with PMI stats, they essentially provide a sentiment barometer for manufacturing. They assesses new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries and the employment environment. A figure above 50 means the sector is in expansion mode.
It was a fairly quiet start on the markets with miners rebounding after a modest sell-off. Footsie list of gainers was led by Anglo American (LON:AAL), which was up 1.7% early on, helped by a target price upgrade from Deutsche Bank.
Near the top of the losers was Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) after announcing another swathe of branch closures.
Proactive news headlines:
Rose Petroleum PLC (LON:ROSE) has completed the sale of its processing mill in Mexico to Magellan Gold Corporation (OTCQB: MAGE). Total consideration was US$1.5mln, of which US$1mln was in cash that has now been received. The remaining US$500,000 will be met through shares in Magellan and will represent a 15% stake. Magellan has an option to buy the shares back.
LEKOIL Limited (LON:LEK) told investors that production from the Otakikpo field averaged 6,400 barrels of oil per day in October, and the rate is now about 7,600 bopd. The company highlighted the ramp-up since production resumed at 5,000 bopd in February this year, and noted that it is advancing towards its first target of 10,000 bopd – before phase two of the project which targets further growth to 20,000 bopd.
Diversified Gas & Oil plc (LON:DGOC) has stuck a deal to acquire 550 wells in central Ohio. It is paying US$3.1mln for the portfolio which accounts for some 1.3mln cubic feet of gas or 220 barrels oil equivalent net production per day.
Victoria Oil & Gas plc (LON:VOG) has completed the drilling operations for the La-108 well at the Logbaba gas field in Cameroon, after electrical problems were rectified. A production tree will soon be installed prior to testing and the production well’s start-up.
Alliance Pharma plc (LON:APH) has acquired all of the rights to an anaesthetic gel product, Ametop from FTSE 100 listed medical technology business Smith & Nephew PLC (LON:SN. for a consideration of US$7.5mln. John Dawson, Alliance Pharma's chief executive, said: "The acquisition will be immediately earnings enhancing, accretive to our underlying return on invested capital, and it fits well in our existing bedrock business operations."
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON:FARN), one of a small handful of London-listed drug developers with a product in phase III clinical trials, said it has appointed a chief commercial officer. Dr Juhana Heinonen will join the business in January from AstraZeneca where he was global marketing director for Fasenra, the company’s asthma treatment.
Internet domain names specialist CentralNic Group PLC (LON:CNIC) said the terms of its deal to acquire SK-NIC have been altered, though the headline value of the takeover remains the same at €26.12mln. The current owners of the business, which manages the exclusive country code top-level domain for Slovakia, .SK, will receive €20.27mln upfront rather than €21.27mln. Deferred payments will be slightly higher at €5.85mln and extended out to 2023.
ADES International Holding PLC (LON:ADES) has revealed that bidding activity remains strong with a number of tenders expected to close in the next three months as the oil services group reported over a 30% jump in nine month revenues and said it is continuing to review acquisition opportunities.
Tissue Regenix Group PLC (LON:TRX) said on Friday chief financial officer Paul Devlin will step down and the medical device company has started the process to appoint a successor. Steve Couldwell, who was named as chief executive in November, said: "Paul played a significant role throughout the fundraise and acquisition process, we wish him every success in the future."
Galantas Gold Corporation (LON:GAL (TSXV:GAL) has said it private placement raise a gross amount of C$1.1658mln (£682,859), in line with the terms and proposed placing price previously outlined on 15 November 2017. The gold producer and explorer with a 100% interest in Northern Ireland's Omagh gold mine added that 16.655mln common shares were placed, with UK placees subscribing at a price of 0.041p per share and Canadian placees at a price of C$0.07 per share.
6.45am: Slow start predicted
FTSE 100 is called to start lower on the first day of December as concerns mount over the passage of the US tax reform bill.
The UK blue chip index was weighed upon again by the strength of sterling yesterday and closed down over 66 points at 7,326.
Today, the benchmark is seen by financial spreadbetter IG Index starting 20.5 points below that.
Wall Street had a strong day yesterday, with the S&P 500 index closing at a new high of 2,647, (up around 21 points) and the Dow Jones tearing past the 24,000 level.
But global sentiment was dashed late on Thursday, when the US Senate delayed voting on the new legislation, after things had seemingly been running smoothly.
It came after an amendment had been sought surrounding the issue of the large Federal budget deficit, which is seen arising from the changes.
The vote was put off to today (Friday) though it is not clear whether it will actually take place on the day.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Japan is up 120 points at 22,845, helped by a weak yen and some positive economic data, but the Shanghai Composite Index in China lagged over nine points at 3,307.
In London today, it looks like a quiet day, though some investors will be keen to analyse UK manufacturing data, at a time when the Brexit negotiation phase reaches a critical period.
In company news, an AGM statement from floor coverings specialist James Halstead PLC (LON:JHD) was said to possibly spark some interest.
The shares received a small lift from the changes to stamp duty announced in last week’s Budget, but it is obviously too soon to tell whether that has had any impact on trading.
Significant events expected:
Economic data: UK manufacturing PMI; US construction spending; US ISM manufacturing
Around the markets:
- Sterling: US$1.3528, up 0.02%
- Gold: US$1,274.60 an ounce, up 0.11%
- Brent crude: US$57.57 a barrel, up 0.30%
City headlines:
- Tesla switches on world’s biggest lithium-ion battery - FT
- Oil output cuts to be extended throughout 2018- FT
- Lloyd Blankfein voices prospect of being replaced by co-Chiefs -FT
- Credit Suisse to give half its profits to shareholders- FT
- Uber’s new legal Chief warns staff not to spy on rivals - FT
- Peugeot-Citroen to sue GM after it ‘lied’ over emissions - The Times
- Bitcoin: ECB tells banks to introduce instant payments to counter cryptocurrencies - The Independent
- Daily Mail shares crash 25% as newspaper group slumps to £112 million loss - The Independent
- Ofgem announces £57.5 million for seven new innovative energy network projects: The energy watchdog is providing up to £57.5 million - City AM