FTSE 100 shrugged off another battering for US stocks overnight and made headway in early trading helped by a bullish update from mining and trading giant Glencore. The blue-chip index was up 28 in early deals at 7,074.
Tesco denied it is profiteering as fuel sales jumped 44% to £2bn in its first quarter helped by soaring petrol prices. The grocer said it was ‘on the side of the consumer’ but noted the surge in cost of living was starting to affect shoppers’ behaviour with sales overall up just 2% to £13.6bn.
Glencore’s first-half marketing profits will exceed what it would normally make in a good year as it continues to benefit from surging coal prices. In an unscheduled update, the miner said underlying profits would exceed US$3.2bn.
Elon Musk is being sued for US$258bn over alleged manipulation of the Dogecoin or DOGE crypto currency. The complaint alleges that the Tesla CEO ran a pyramid scheme promoting DOGE for his own personal gain.
Custodian REIT, the UK commercial property group, says rent collection is back at pre-pandemic levels and tenants have honoured their deferred rent agreements. NAV rose by 23% on a year earlier.
Among the small caps, Thor Mining said it is encouraged by the findings of a new survey of the Krona prospect at Ragged Range in Western Australia. An anomaly modelled at around 100m below the surface is a clear drill target, said the junior.