FTSE 100 gains 58 points
US stocks charge higher
US Black Friday sales shine
2.50pm: Black Friday in focus
The UK’s large-cap stocks Monday afternoon headed toward their first win in three sessions, while US stocks powered higher at the start of the trading session, with retailers in focus.
The FTSE 100 gained 58 points, or 0.8%, to 7,011.13, with oil and bank stocks among advancers. US stocks met expectations with strong gains at the open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 260 points, the S&P 500 climbed 0.9% and the Nasdaq rose 1.1%.
Retailers were in focus as data rolled in about the Black Friday shopping day and weekend. In the US, Black Friday online sales hit $6.2bln, a jump of nearly 24% from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics. On Wall Street, shares of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 1.9% and Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) moved 1.6% higher.
In the UK, sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday are expected to rise to £7.7bln, according to data cited by the Guardian newspaper.
Happy #CyberMonday bargain hunting! ????️
It is too early to say how retailers have fared on #BlackFriday itself but we expect the weeks surrounding Black Friday to show some growth on last year. pic.twitter.com/YEhF1FmvHV
— BRC (@the_brc) November 26, 2018
Among UK retail stocks, Marks & Spencer PLC (LON:MKS) rose 0.6% to 307.40, Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF) popped up 2.2% to 246.30p, but Next PLC (LON:NXT) was down 0.8% to 5,150.00.
11.55am: Housing stocks higher after mortgage numbers
The FTSE 100 remained in positive territory in late-morning trade Monday, with some upbeat monthly figures coming from the UK housing front on a monthly basis.
The benchmark was up 60 points, or 0.9%, to 7,012.65, edging back from intraday highs.
Investors received a snapshot of British mortgage approvals in October from UK Finance, with the trade association saying approvals for house purchases rose 3.6% to a four-month high. Gross mortgage lending in the residential market was up 5.6% to £25.5bn last month compared with the same month a year ago.
Eric Leenders, UK Finance's managing director of personal finance, said: "Overall mortgage lending grew in October, despite an uncertain economic environment, while house purchase mortgage approvals by the main high street banks were also up on the previous year."
"However," he added, "remortgaging activity has softened, following a period of strong growth driven by fixed rate loans reaching maturity and anticipation of August's base rate rise."
Remortgage approvals were down 13.5%.
Among housing stocks, Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) rose 0.9% to 513.50p, Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW. was up 0.5% at 153.35p, and Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LON:BKG) moved up 0.9% to 3,563p.
Elsewhere in UK trade, shares of Anglesey Mining PLC (LON:AYM) surged 44% to 1.80p following an agreement with QME Mining Technical Services to perform design, engineering and optimisation studies for the Parys Mountain copper and zinc project.
10.15am: Oil prices, shares climb
The UK’s blue-chip benchmark extended gains in Monday morning trade, finding support as shares of oil producers rose alongside oil prices following their plunge at the end of last week.
The FTSE 100 rose 82 points, or 1.2%, to 7,035.42, as all major sectors rose, including the financial and resources groups. Last week, the benchmark fell 0.9%.
Aiding in Monday's effort were gains for oil heavyweights Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC as oil prices stepped higher. WTI crude rose 1.6% to trade above US$51 a barrel and Brent crude picked up 1.8% to move above US$60 a barrel.
Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) gained 1.7% to 2,372p, and BP PLC (LON:BP) advanced 1.5% to 520.50p.
WTI tumbled roughly 8% on Friday to hit lows for the year, hit by a cocktail of concerns including oversupply.
“The fear is that Saudi Arabia will bow to US pressure to keep prices low. So, talks between Russia and OPEC on curbing output could hinge on whether the Saudis are willing to antagonise its US ally,” said Neil Wilson, analyst at Markets.com.
“Following the Khashoggi case, one senses that Trump has a fair bit of leverage and will use it. If Saudi Arabia, as the de facto OPEC leader, doesn’t get further agreement to cut production, prices should continue to fall. But even a modest production cut would be unlikely to dissuade oil bears that the market will be oversupplied in 2019. Speculative net longs have been further cut to 381k,” he added.
In other moves in the UK market, Faroe Petroleum PLC (LON:FPM) shares soared 24% at 156.60p after Norway’s DNO offered to buy out the offshore oil firm. The cash bid of 152p is a 44% premium to Faroe’s share price before DNO’s made its first share acquisition in April.
READ: Faroe Petroleum shares soar as DNO makes premium-priced takeover bid
Hotel Chocolat Group PLC (LON:HOTC) shares rose 2.7% to 323.00p as the luxury chocolatier said it opened its first store in Japan.
READ: Hotel Chocolat opens in Japan's largest mall
8.40am: Positive start
While it is unlikely to survive a Commons vote, the market at least appears satisfied with the terms of the EU withdrawal agreement, with the index of blue-chip shares advancing 77 points to 7,030.25.
“Theresa May has a difficult task ahead of her as she has to sell the withdrawal agreement to her own party,” said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets.
“The EU over the weekend made it very clear that it is a take it or leave it situation in relation to the deal.”
Turning to the market, the oil field services specialist Wood Group (LON:WG.) rose 3% and was among the earlier Footsie risers after the investment banking arm of HSBC raised its recommendation on the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.
The bargain hunters were out again for Fresnillo (LON:FRES), the Mexico-focused silver miner whose shares topped the benchmark index with a 3.5% gain to 776p. That probably feels like scant reward for those who bought six months ago when the stock was closer to 1,400p.
Dropping down a division, TalkTalk (LON:TALK) led the losers after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its recommendation on shares in the telco to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’. The price opened 3.4% lower.
Proactive news headlines:
Anglesey Mining PLC (LON:AYM) has entered into an agreement with QME Mining Technical Services under the terms of which QME will carry out an agreed programme of design, engineering and optimisation studies relating to the future development of the Parys Mountain copper and zinc project in Anglesey.
PowerHouse Energy Group PLC (LON:PHE) has been invited to engage in “advanced commercial discussions” over its waste-to-hydrogen DMG technology with Toyota Tsusho – a trading subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate, Toyota Group.
Restaurant booking app group BigDish PLC (LON:DISH) rallied as it said a stock overhang had been cleared. Joost Boer, chief executive, said: "We note the recent share price volatility on the back of thin volumes but believe the overhang in the market has now been removed and we look forward to future positive market updates."
Seeing Machines Limited’s (LON:SEE) aviation division has inked its first commercial agreement. It will provide eye and face tracking sensor technologies to the Royal Australian Air Force.
Kodal Minerals PLC (LON:KOD) has reported assay results for an additional three diamond drill holes at the Boumou prospect on the 450 square kilometre Bougouni lithium project in Southern Mali.
Anglo African Oil & Gas PLC (LON:AAOG) told investors that drilling has now resumed at the TLP-103C well site, at the Tilapia project in the Republic of the Congo, following necessary repairs to the contracted drill rig. The repair work followed an unscheduled inspection by AAOG staff. The temporary suspension of operations has now ended, with repaired and reconditioned parts now installed back onto the rig.
Rosslyn Data Technologies PLC (LON:RDT) has reported a narrowed loss in its half-year results as an increase in contract values boosted earnings.
Renewables group SIMEC Atlantis PLC (LON:SAE) is to diversify into hydro-generation through the acquisition of a portfolio of assets from its major shareholder for £124.7mln in total. A conditional agreement has been reached to acquire Green Highland Renewables from SIMEC group, part of the GFG Alliance that owns 49.99% of Atlantis.
VR Education Holdings PLC (LON:VRE) has launched its Apollo 11 HD virtual reality experience on the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality platforms.
SDX Energy Limited (LON:SDX) (CVE:SDX) chief executive Paul Welch has described the third quarter as “one of the best financial periods in the company's history”, whilst the quarterly statement confirmed higher production, revenue and earnings. Net production averaged 3,889 barrels oil equivalent per day over the first nine months of 2018.
Savannah Resources PLC (LON:SAV) had added several Portuguese and international consultancies to the team overseeing its Mina do Barroso lithium project in Portugal.
Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR)(ASX:THR) has established an initial mineral resource estimate for the Bonya Copper Mine deposit within the Bonya tenement, held jointly with Arafura Resources Limited (AXS:ARU).
Rambler Metals and Mining PLC (LON:RMM) (TSXV:RAB) said it has entered into a definitive subscription agreement with CE Mining III Rambler Limited which provides for an investment of US$2mln in the form of senior secured convertible loan notes. The company said the proceeds received from the Convertible Loan will be used to strengthen its working capital position and for general corporate purposes and will provide adequate working capital for approximately three months based on current projected expenditures and anticipated production.
Sunrise Resources PLC (LON:SRES) said that, further to its announcement of 1 November 2018, the company has identified a replacement Nominated Adviser and the due diligence process, which is required to be undertaken on the firm, is in progress. The group said its directors are confident that the company will be in a position to announce the appointment of the new Nomad well in advance of 1 February 2019, with a further announcement to be made in due course.
SigmaRoc PLC (LON:SRC) said its CEO, Max Vermorken, will be speaking later today and tomorrow at the London Mello event for institutional fund managers and private investors. He will highlight SigmaRoc's core buy-and-build strategy and how the board intends to apply it to create significant value for SigmaRoc's shareholders and stakeholders. An updated presentation can be found on the company's website.
Tekcapital PLC (LON:TEK), the UK intellectual property investment group focused on creating marketplace value from university technology, announced that the company will be presenting at the Mello London investor conference to be held over the next two days at the Clayton Hotel Chiswick, Chiswick High Road, London, W4 5RY. It said its CEO, Clifford M Gross will be presenting to delegates at 2:20pm today and 11:40am tomorrow in the Roskill Room, respectively.
6.45am: FTSE 100 called higher
The FTSE 100 index is expected to start positively on Monday reflecting firmer Asian markets, with the main focus on the pound following EU leaders’ approval at the weekend of UK prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan, although now she has a battle to get the deal through the UK Parliament.
Spread betting firm IG expects the blue-chip index to open around 25 points higher at 6,977, having shed 7.46 points on Friday.
Pre-weekend on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrials Average ended its post-Thanksgiving half-day session 178.74 points lower at 24,285 as the recent sell-off in tech stocks showed no signs of abating amid trade and growth worries.
But today in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 0.8% higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leapt 1.4% as traders looked ahead to the G20 summit, which starts later this week, with the US-China meetings sure to be the focus of dealers’ attention.
Asian markets were also encouraged by data from Adobe Analytics showing US Black Friday sales jumped by 23.6% to US$6.22bn – a record level.
On currency markets, sterling edged higher versus the dollar but remained flat against the euro as investors braced for the battle Theresa May now faces to get her EU-approved Brexit deal through Parliament with detractors increasing in her own party as well as the opposition.
Meanwhile, oil prices spiked higher after recent falls on worries over supply with tensions running high between Russia and Ukraine after the Russian navy opened fire and seized three Ukrainian ships in the Crimean peninsula at the weekend.
Slow corporate news day
On the corporate front, the final week of November brings a slowing in the flow of company announcements, with almost nothing on the agenda for Monday aside from a production update from blue-chip miner and commodities trader Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN).
However, there will still be a steady flow of updates in the following four sessions including from the likes of blue-chip testing, inspection and certification firm Intertek Group PLC (LON:ITRK), as well as mid-cap holidays group Thomas Cook Group PLC (LON:TCG), soft drinks firm Britvic PLC (LON:BVIC) and utility Pennon Group PLC (LON:PNN).
Significant announcements expected week on Monday:
Production report: Glencore PLC (Q3) (LON:GLEN)
Finals: Sanderson Group PLC (LON:SND)
Interims: Augmentum Fintech PLC (LON:AUGM), Cake Box Holdings PLC (LON:CBOX), D4t4 Solutions PLC (LON:D4T4), Fusion Antibodies PLC (LON:FAB), Kainos Group PLC (LON:KNOS), Palace Capital PLC (LON:PCA), (LON:POLR), Sysgroup PLC (LON:SYS)
Economic data: German IFO business climate index; US Chicago Fed national activity index; US Dallas Fed manufacturing index
Around the markets:
- Sterling: US$1.2819, up 0.1%
- Gold: US$1,221.00, an ounce, unchanged
- Brent crude: US$60.13 a barrel, up 1.3%
City Headlines:
- Theresa May will start a two-week campaign to hard sell the Brexit deal agreed by European leaders, as the UK prime minister faces an uphill battle at home to ratify the agreement – Financial Times
- Carlos Ghosn, the sacked Nissan chairman, has denied allegations of financial misconduct that led to his arrest. – Daily Telegraph
- Administrators of Phones 4u are set to assess whether to launch a damages claims worth hundreds of millions of pounds against mobile operators over their alleged role in the collapse of the retailer - Daily Telegraph
- Mike Ashley is to shut all his stores in shopping centres owned by Intu Properties after the landlord’s refusal to accept his proposed new terms on four House of Fraser sites – Sunday Times
- RPC Group, the FTSE 250 packaging company, has come under attack from a short-seller Fraser Perring, who took on the disaster-hit South African retailer Steinhoff – Sunday Times
- Investment fund Crystal Amber has proposed that De La Rue make the company focus more on its banknote security and authentication technologies – Sunday Times
- Shareholders are pushing Domino’s Pizza for a heavyweight non-executive director to challenge its chairman and chief executive more effectively – Sunday Times
- Johnston Press administrators have warned of a “significant shortfall” of cash for creditors – Weekend Financial Times
- Uber is planning a dramatic expansion of its US$8bn-a-year Uber Eats food-delivery service by tripling staff and broadening its footprint in Britain over the next year – Sunday Times
- China’s Tencent Music Entertainment is planning to list in New York next month despite the sell-off in technology shares – Weekend Financial Times
- The accountant BDO is set to merge with smaller rival Moore Stephens in a move to create a new challenger to the big four firms – Sunday Times
- Vauxhall is to cut 241 jobs at its Ellesmere Port car plant in a profitability drive – Weekend Financial Times
- An alliance of 27 brewers, retailers and other UK firms has launched a £100mln legal claim against a 'cartel' of European truck manufacturers – Mail on Sunday