Tuesday, August 18, 2015

FINANCIAL MARKETS UPDATE 18/08/15


The FTSE 100 is called to open 7 points higher at 6557.
UK Gilt 10 Year Yield 1.873%, Spot Gold $1119.40 +1.80, Brent Crude $48.57. -0.25.
U.S. stocks rose, following last week’s gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, with homebuilders pacing the advance amid light volume before further clues from the Federal Reserve on the path for interest rates. The S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent to 2,102.44 at 4 p.m. in New York, climbing above its average price for the past 100 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 67.78 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,545.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.9 percent. About 5.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 15 percent below the three-month average.
PRESS COMMENTARY
Financial Times: Global banks are facing billions of pounds-worth of civil claims in London and Asia over the rigging of currency markets, following a landmark legal settlement in New York.
COMPANY NEWS
Cairn Energy reported a widened pretax loss for the first half, and said that it has entered into an agreement with the Senegal government for an extensive evaluation and survey of its oil discoveries in the country. The Scottish oil and gas exploration company said pretax loss for the six months ended June 30 totaled $234.7 million, compared with a pretax loss of $119.7 million in the year ago period. The company attributed the widened loss to a $177.1 million impairment charge.
U.K. housebuilder Persimmon reported a 31% increase in pretax profit in the first half, with sales volumes and prices both rising, and said demand has held up well in the quieter summer period. Pretax profit in the six months to June 30 rose to GBP272.8 million ($425.1 million) from GBP208.9 million. Sales gained 11% to GBP1.33 billion after Persimmon sold 6,855 homes, a 7% increase from last year, at a 4% higher average price of GBP194,378.
Energy services company John Wood Group reported a fall in interim profit as the low oil price hit demand but said its full-year outlook remains unchanged. Net profit for the six months ended June 30 fell to $116.8 million from $140.5 million over the same period last year, on revenue from continuing operations down to $2.66 billion from $3.22 billion.
Amec Foster Wheeler PLC (AMFW.LN) on Tuesday said it has been awarded an extension to its existing project management consultancy contract for the UZ750 project in the Upper Zakum field, located 84 kilometers north-west of Abu Dhabi. The value of the contract has not been announced.
BMW has diverted shipment to Shanghai ~2,000 vehicles a week that otherwise would have gone via Tianjin, Reuters reports, citing an unidentified co. spokesman. BMW unable to estimate how many of its cars Tianjin were damaged; the damage is covered by insurance. BMW said its plant in Shenyang is operating normally
Source Quilter Cheviot
Pat Macdonald - IFA at Blacktower

 

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