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London open: Stocks rise ahead of PMIs, Yellen speech
London stocks rose on Tuesday as investors awaited manufacturing data and looked ahead to a key speech by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen.
At 0821 BST the FTSE 100 rose 0.54% to 6,864.99 points.
First up, Markit releases its eurozone manufacturing and services purchasing managers’ indexes at 0900 BST. The US will follow suit in the afternoon with its manufacturing PMI from Markit at 1445 BST.
“The eurozone figures will be of particular interest as we continue to seek evidence of the Brexit impact on the UK’s largest trading partner,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.
“While it’s too early to get this from the hard data, releases like the PMIs are a good source of early insight into how the region will respond.”
On the data front, the US will also see the release of US new home sales figures at 1500 BST.
With little else on the agenda to preoccupy traders, many are turning their focus to Yellen’s speech in Jackson Hole on Friday for guidance on monetary policy.
Rabobank said it expects the Fed Chair to make it clear that the risk for a 2016 interest rate hike remains firmly on the table.
“As it stands it is our view that the Fed will still have sufficient reason to tighten in December – though the risks to this view are sizeable.”
Among corporate stocks, Persimmon shares gained after reporting a better-than-expected jump in first half pre-tax profit as the housebuilder shrugged off Brexit uncertainty. Pre-tax profit rose 29% to £352.3m in the six months to 30 June on a 12% increase in revenue to £1.49bn. Analysts at Deutsche Bank had anticipated a 26% increase in pre-tax profits to £345m.
Hansteen Holdings was on the front foot as the property investor posted a drop in first half pre-tax profit but an increase in net asset value per share and earnings per share.
Pre-tax profit fell to £54.8m in the six months to 30 June from £103.7m the previous year with the company blaming the “high property revaluation in the first half of 2015 that was not repeated in the first half of 2016”.
Diluted EPRA earnings per share were 3.4p, up from 0.4p last year. Adjusted EPRA NAV per share increased 8.4% to 120.5p from the end of 2015. Hansteen said it benefitted from a weaker pound against the euro following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
Rank Group surged as it reported an increase in full year pre-tax profit and revenues and said it sees no likely impact from the Brexit vote.
The company, which operates Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca bingo halls, said adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to the end of June ticked up 4% to £77.4m while group revenue nudged up 2% to £753m. Analysts had been expecting revenue of about £756m. The company, which recently withdrew its bid for William Hill with 888 Holdings, said it saw continued strong digital revenue growth of 11%.
