Markets
Europe
The FTSE-100 finished yesterday's session 1.49% lower at 7,170.69, whilst the FTSE AIM All-Share index was down 1.01% at 1,021.64. In continental Europe, the CAC-40 finished 1.98% lower at 5,151.68 whilst the DAX was down 2.62% at 12,260.29.
Wall Street
Last night in New York, the Dow fell 1,032.89 points, or 4.15%, to end the session at 23,860.46.The S&P 500 lost 100.66 points, or 3.75%, to close at 2,581 and NASDAQ finished 274.83 points lower at 6,777.16.
Asia
In Asia this morning, the Nikkei 225 was down 576.11 points, or 2.63%, at 21,314.75 heading into the close. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng was 1,144.86 points, or 3.76%, lower at 29,306.41.
Oil
At around 6:15am, WTI crude was 0.62% lower at $60.53 per barrel and Brent was down 0.65% at $64.39 per barrel.
Headlines
Asia stock markets drop sharply after US falls
Major Asian markets suffered sharp losses on Friday, following another day of steep falls on Wall Street. In a volatile week for global investors, Japan's Nikkei 225 index slid 2.8%, while China's Shanghai Composite slumped by 4.1%. Earlier, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 1,000 points for the second time this week. Sell-offs around the world have been pinned partly on concerns over higher interest rates. Elsewhere in Asia on Friday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng pulled back 3.7%, while South Korea's Kospi index traded down 1.6% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.8%. Those losses came as little surprise, with moves in major US markets providing the cue for global investors.
Source: BBC News
Company news
Xtract Resources (LON:XTR) 2.35p – Speculative Buy
Xtract Resources announced yesterday that it has concluded an amended agreement with Omnia Mining for exploitation of alluvial deposits on its Manica operation in Mozambique. Omnia is an experienced alluvial contractor that operates an underutilised plant 3km west of the Manica concession. Under terms of the agreement, Omnia will provide monthly payments based on the run-of-mine performance and will start building settlement dams and processing from February 12. Omnia is expected to be fully operation with a minimum throughput of 100t per hour no later than 15 May. The agreement is for a maximum of 10 years, unless the alluvial deposits are depleted sooner.
Our view: The amended agreement with Omnia allows it to mine the O block of the western Manica concessions, which is close to the contactor’s existing processing plant. We now look forward to steady state operations from both the eastern and western portions of the alluvial concession. The above agreement should lead to increased efficiencies as Omnia’s existing plant is located adjacent to the O block. We maintain our Speculative Buy rating on the stock.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Xtract Resources PLC
GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) 1,310.00p – Buy
GlaxoSmithkline (GSK.L) reported Q4-17 results yesterday which showed balanced growth across GSK’s three global business activities, Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare, both over the Q4 period and the full year 2017. This balanced growth across three independent business activities is one of the key reasons we like GSK as an investment, along with its currently low relative valuation and high and sustainable dividend yield.
Looking at the results in detail , GSK reported 4% organic revenue growth over the Q4 period ( Pharma +3%, Vaccines +9%, Consumer Health +4%) and 5% growth in Adj. Operating profit to £2bn, accompanied by strong free cash flow generation in the quarter. The full year results were similar in terms of growth rates, and allowed GSK to pay a full-year dividend of 80p per share and guide towards 80p for 2018.
Importantly, CEO Emma Walmsley highlighted three key drug approvals; the Shingrix Vaccine for shingles, Trelogy Ellipta for COPD, and Juluca for the treatment of HIV. She also clearly stated that GSK’s first priority is its pharmaceutical business, the pipeline and new launches, thus M&A risk has receded in our view.
Click here to see Beaufort's research note on GlaxoSmithKline published yesterday