FTSE 100 Index Edged Hgher In Friday’s Session

Global Markets: Equity Indices in the United States were quoting in green on the last trading session of June 2019, with Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 63.3 points or 0.24% higher and quoting at 26,589.91, the S&P 500 index added 8.74 points or 0.30% and trading at 2,933.66 and technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite was quoting at 7,987.83 and added 20.1 points or 0.25% in today’s session, at the time of writing.

Global News: While the US President Donald Trump on Friday said he hoped for productive talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, expectations have declined that the two biggest countries would be able to ease tension over. As the US refused, European calls to ease sanctions to allow negotiations and Iranian officials said their demands had not been met, last-ditch talks to persuade Iran not to exceed nuclear limits seemed to fail on Friday. Given the uncertainty of the outcome, investors looked reluctant to take large positions in bonds before the talks, and treasury yields edged higher on Friday on hopes of a de-escalation in the trade war.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 23.30 points or 0.32% higher at 7,425.63, the FTSE 250 index snapped 147.64 points or 0.76% higher at 19,462.10, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 15.16 points or 0.38% higher at 4,056.88 respectively. European benchmark index STOXX 600 ended 2.66 points or 0.70% higher at 384.87 respectively.

European News: An emergency budget to tackle the worst-case scenario of no-deal Brexit was being prepared by Boris Johnson, the leading contender to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May. It includes an assault on regulation, an overhaul of stamp duty and aggressive tax cuts. The current account deficit of the country rose to 30.0 billion pounds, 5.6 per cent of GDP, much of the rise was driven by gold. As investors continued to fret about the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, Sterling fell to a new 5-month low on Friday, while it was down 0.6 per cent for the week against the dollar.

London Stock Exchange (LSE)

Top Performers Stocks: MERLIN PLC (MERL), CLIPPER PLC (CLG), and NOSTRUM OIL&GAS PLC (NOG) surged by 13.70 per cent, 7.82 per cent and 6.19 per cent respectively.

Top Laggards Stocks: COSTAIN GROUP PLC (COST), INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL FINANCE PLC (IPF), and NANOCO (NANO) decreased by 43.26 per cent, 18.92 per cent and 8.95 per cent respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

FTSE100 Index: 5-days Price Chart as on June 28, 2019. (Source: Thomson Reuters)

Top Risers Stocks: INTL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES GROUP SA (IAG), BERKELEY GROUP HOLDINGS (BKG) and BURBERRY GROUP PLC (BRBY) rose by 4.97 per cent, 4.19 per cent and 4.08 per cent respectively.

Top Fallers Stocks: IMPERIAL BRANDS PLC (IMB), BUNZL PLC (BNZL) and INTERTEK GROUP PLC (ITRK) reduced by 2.28 per cent, 1.80 per cent and 1.43 per cent respectively.

Top Active Volume Leaders: LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC, GLENCORE PLC and INTL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES GROUP SA.

Top Risers Sectors: Consumer Cyclicals (+0.93%), Basic Materials (+0.71%) and Financials (+0.67%).

Top Fallers Sectors: Energy (-0.16%) and Telecommunications Services (-0.08%).

Stocks Which Traded Ex-Dividend Today

British Land Company PLC (BLND) announced the full year dividend to 31 March 2019 of 31.0p, representing an increase of 3 per cent against the last year. On 2 August 2019, shareholders will be paid the final dividend of 7.75p.

Burberry Group PLC (BRBY) announced a final dividend of 31.5p for the financial year 2019, taking the total dividend to 42.5p, and the final dividend will be paid on 2 August 2019.

Bringing the total dividend for FY19 to 46.5 US cents, an increase of 4 per cent, Experian PLC (EXPN) announced a second interim dividend of 32.5 US cents, which will be paid on 26 July 2019.

British American Tobacco PLC (BATS) will pay a dividend of $0.669 per share on 13 August 2019, with ex-dividend of 27 June 2019.

Bringing the total dividend payable for the year to 1.71p, JD Sports Fashion PLC (JD) announced a final dividend of 1.44p, which will be paid on 5 August 2019.

Foreign Exchange and Fixed Income

FX Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were exchanging at 1.2696 and 0.8958 respectively.

10-Year Bond Yields*: US 10Y Treasury and UK 10Y Bond yields were trading at 2.000% and 0.838% respectively.Â

*At the time of writing