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The UK stock market traded marginally higher in the early afternoon deals on Thursday, 25 February, as investors pursued cautiously following the ongoing corporate earnings with Standard Chartered Plc (LON: STAN) reporting a more than 60 per cent drop in its annual profit for the FY20.
Standard Chartered shares plunge
Subsequent to the release of financial results, the stock of Standard Chartered lost a little over 6 per cent wiping away all the gains in the last seven sessions. According to the data available on the London Stock Exchange, Standard Chartered shares slipped as much as 6.09 per cent to an intraday bottom of GBX 478.40 from the previous closing price of GBX 509.40.
Furthermore, the stock of Standard Chartered emerged as the biggest loser among the pack of 101 constituents of FTSE 100. Banking stocks have been in focus in the present week with the back-to-back earnings release by the heavyweights including HSBC Holdings Plc (LON: HSBA) and Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LON: LLOY).
European equities trade mixed
The headline FTSE 100 index went on to touch an intraday high of 6,702.88 in the late morning session but was not able to sustain the gains as the trading progressed. During the day so far, the index made a low of 6,657.74 and was trading at 6,686.60 (1340 GMT), up 27.63 points, or 0.41 per cent from the previous close of 6,658.97.
London equities traded marginally higher in-line with the headline FTSE 100. The broader indices, including FTSE 350 and FTSE All-Share, gained up to 0.40 per cent during the day, while FTSE 250 tripped 0.30 per cent.
Most of the European stock indices traded slightly higher. France’s CAC 40 gained 0.07 per cent, Spain’s IBEX 35 rose 0.88 per cent, Italy’s FTSE MIB soared 0.29 per cent, while Switzerland’s SMI and Germany’s DAX fell 0.10 to 0.30 per cent.
Pound holds above 1.41
The Great Britain pound (GBP) held the morning gains against the United States dollar (USD) on Thursday as the greenback continued its weaker trajectory against a basket of currencies on dovish commentary by the Federal Reserve. At around 1458 GMT, the GBP vs USD pair traded at 1.4140, up 0.01 per cent from the last close of 1.4139.
During the session so far, the currency pair has shuttled between a range of 1.4122 and 1.4176 at the interbank foreign exchange market. The Bank of England had fixed a reference exchange rate of 1.4103 USD and 1.1633 EUR against a unit of pound sterling on 24 February.
