AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
The European markets were up and FTSE 100 Index was trading in green as at January 29, 2019. This performance comes after FTSE 100 closed in red a day before as the index was down 0.91%. It can be assumed that this week the investors would be more focused towards the earnings season as well as the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting. The global investors need to closely track the meeting of the US Federal Reserve as the Chairman, Mr. Jerome Powell, might give views about the current state of the broader US economy. The global markets are susceptible to the US interest rates, and the outlook for the same might set the momentum of the broader markets.
Lately, US Department of Justice charged Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei and its CFO, Mr. Meng for breaching US sanction against Iran. On the other hand, US drug-maker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) came up with an estimated profit for 2019 to be below Wall Street estimates, as the company is going to face a blow from a stronger dollar as well as a patent loss on pain treatment Lyrica.
On London Stock Exchange, Hargreaves Lansdown Plc (HL.L), a wealth management company reported a decrease in net new business and asset under management amid âBrexit uncertainties, oscillating market and jittery investors confidence in the marketâ. The company reported net revenue up by 9% on a Y-o-Y basis compared to 24% increase noted for last year.
In another company news, LSE listed Pizza maker, Dominoâs Pizza (DOM.L) said they are predicting a strong sales growth in the UK market in the fourth quarter but because of low, weak performance in the International market, before tax profit will be at the lower end of the range of 93.9 million pounds to 98.2 million pounds.
On 29th Jan, FTSE 100 index closed higher at 6833.93, up by 1.29% and European market benchmark index STOXX also closed higher. Talking about struggling pound ahead of Mayâs Plan B vote in the House of Commons, GBP/US was trading at 1.31, marginally up and EUR/GBP was trading at 0.87.
International Crude benchmarks Brent Crude and WTI Crude Oil, were trading higher at the time of writing, Brent Crude was trading at USD61.25, up by 2.2% and WTI Crude Oil was trading at USD53.25, up by 2.4%.
On LSE, stocks like British American Tobacco Plc (BATS.L), DS Smith Plc (SMDS.L), Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L) were the top performers on FTSE 100 index and up by 5.7%, 4.8%, and 3.4%, respectively. On the other hand, stocks like Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (HL.L), Tui AG (TUI.L) and Easyjet Plc (EZJ.L) were the laggards on the FTSE 100 Index and down by 6.3%, 0.88%, and 1.2%, respectively.
On 29 Jan, almost all sectors on FTSE 100 Index closed in green, except telecommunications. Top performing sectors on FTSE 100 index were Consumer non-cyclical, Utilities, and Industrials.
