All You Need To Know About FTSE’s Performance In Thursday’s Session

London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded marginally higher on February 14, 2019 against its previous close

On Thursday, Stocks in the United States opened lower, broader indices at Wall Street fell at the time of opening of bell on account of discouraging US retail sales numbers. At the time of writing, broader indices like Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 103.88 points, and S&P 500 (.SPX) was trading 7 points lower. However, technology index Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was trading 0.1% higher against their previous closing prices. Sectors like Consumer Non-Cyclicals and Basic Materials were the laggards at Dow Jones (.DJI); on the other hand, the Technology sector was providing support.

On Company specific news at the global level, non-alcoholic beverages Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) reported profit for the fourth quarter, compared to a loss in the year-ago period. Although, its shares fell during Thursday's session due to a weak forecast for sales growth in 2019.

Coming to the European market, the broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded 6.17 points higher against its previous close, and the index closed Thursday’s session at 7197.01, up 0.09 percent from its Wednesday’s close. Another broader equity benchmark STOXX 600 traded 0.32 percent lower against its previous close and ended the session at 363.80.

At the Corporate front, stocks of Micro Focus International (MCRO.L) traded higher after the software maker announced about its buyback programme, and also declared a dividend of 58.33 cents per share. The Anglo-Swedish drug maker, AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) reported strong sales growth of its lung cancer drug Tagrisso, as the company reported decent EBITDA growth in 2018 over 2017. Shares of AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) traded 7.48 percent higher at LSE.

Brexit Update: On Thursday, House of Commons again went against the British Prime Minister after the Members of the British Parliament again voted down Theresa May’s revised Brexit plan. Members voted her down by 303 to 258. Now the chances of no-deal Brexit have further risen. It can jolt investors sentiment during Friday’s market session.

Performers and Laggards at LSE

Stocks like Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO.L), AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) and Pendragon Plc (PDG.L) were among the top performers on the London Stock Exchange and were up by 12.26%, 7.48% and 7.28%, respectively; and on the other side, stocks like ConvaTec Group Plc (CTEC.L), Restaurant Group Plc (RTN.L) and Coca-Cola HBC AG (CCH.L) were among the laggards on the London Stock Exchange and were down by 18.9%, 11.1% and 8.5% respectively.

Stocks like Lloyd Banking Group Plc (LLOY.L), Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) and BP Plc (BP.L) were again top active volume stocks on Thursday.

Broader Market FTSE Index Cues

Along with Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO.L) and AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L), Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc (HIK.L) was one of the top gainers on the broader equity benchmark and up by 2.1%; while on the other side, Coca-Cola HBC AG (CCH.L), Smurfit Kappa Group Plc (SKG.L) and Next Plc (NXT.L) were the laggards on the broader equity benchmark FTSE 100 Index.

On Sector front, Technology, Healthcare and Utilities were top performing sectors on the broader equity benchmark FTSE 100 index, while on the other side, sectors like Energy, Financials and Consumer Non-Cyclicals were losers on the FTSE 100 index.

Commodity Market Cues

At the time of writing,

• Brent Crude was trading 1.5% higher at $64.59 per barrel
• West Texas Intermediate Crude was trading 1.1% higher at $54.49 per barrel
• Gold was at $1312.06 an ounce

London Metal Exchange Cues

At the time of writing,

• LME Aluminium was trading at $1840 per tonne
• LME Copper was trading at $ 6120 per tonne

Forex Market Cues

At the time of writing,

• British Sterling Pound was trading against US Dollar (GBP/USD) at 1.279
• Euro was trading against British Pound (EUR/GBP) at 0.882

Money Market Cues

At the time of writing,

• US 10-year bond was trading at 2.655%
• GB 10-year bond yield was trading at 1.145%

Key Events to Watch on Friday

• On 15 February 2019, UK Retail Sales MM/YY