AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
_06_04_2026_05_16_02_212823.jpg)
Highlights
- The UK stock market’s direction in the current week is likely to be guided by the budget to be announced on Wednesday, 27 October 2021.
- The UK government might announce a £1.4 billion fund for the life science and electric vehicle sector as per some media reports.
- Tesco Plc, Argo Blockchain, HSBC Holdings are some of the stocks in focus today.
As per some media, the UK government might announce a £1.4 billion fund for the life science and electric vehicle sector. The fund will be used to support manufacturing and set up the supply chain for electric vehicles. Also, the investment will be made towards the life science sector to prepare for future pandemics.
The government might also announce initiatives that can attract skilled foreign workers and would ease certain regulations so that international companies can set up their offices in the UK. To attract foreign investment and multinational companies, Britain last week hosted Global Investment Summit in London, which was attended by over 200 global business leaders.
The stock market may show some volatility ahead of the actual budget announcement and the trade for the week would be guided by the budget announcements.
Let us look at FTSE listed stocks that are in focus today:
Tesco Plc (LON: TSCO)
The company operates in the retail segment, managing a chain of supermarkets in the UK and other countries. It is one of the largest supermarket chain operators in the UK by market share.
Tesco Plc’s online service faced disruption during the weekend, leaving its customers struggling to shop for daily essentials and groceries. However, the company said that its website and mobile app services are now fully resorted, and no customers data was leaked or affected.
The company reported a good performance in the first half of the financial year ended on 28 August 2021. Its total sales were at £27,331 million, while its operating profit rose by 40.6% at £1,458 million during the period.
Tesco Plc shares trade at GBX 272.65, up by 0.70% on 25 October at 8:20 am GMT+1 with a market cap of £20,914 million. In the last one year, the stock has given 29.30% returns to its shareholders.
Argo Blockchain Plc (LON: ARB)
The company operates in the cryptocurrency mining segment, which mines for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The company’s stocks have been moving up with the recent rise in Bitcoin prices in the international market.
It has mined close to 1479 Bitcoins till 30 September 2021 and has been steadily improving its operations to enhance efficiency and productivity.
The company has signed a purchase agreement for 20,000 Bitmain Antminer S19J Pro machines, which will improve the company’s mining capacity and hashrate. The new machines will be installed at the company’s Texas facility from Q2 2022.
Argo Blockchain Plc shares trade at GBX 122.50, down by 1.21% on 25 October at 8:20 am GMT+1 with a market cap of £579.18 million. In the last one year, the stock has given 1,783% returns to its shareholders.
HSBC Holdings Plc (LON: HSBA)
FTSE100 listed company is one of the largest financial services providers which has operations in over 60 countries offering retail and institutional banking services to its customers.
The company reported excellent performance in the third quarter of 2021, reporting a profit before tax of USD 5.4 billion driven by the release of expected credit losses and other impairment charges. All its operating regions were profitable.
Asia market contributed USD 3.3 billion to profit before tax, while its UK operations’ profit before tax increased to USD 1.5 billion. The positive result indicates the company has recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic and restructuring troubles.
HSBC Holdings Plc shares trade at GBX 437.50, up by 0.62% on 25 October at 8:20 am GMT+1 with a market cap of £88,814 million. In the last one year, the stock has given 35.86% returns to its shareholders.
