Yahoo Finance FTSE 100 Live 29 April: Index closes at record high again despite late slip, US shares up before big week
The FTSE 100 index continues to trade at record levels after London’s top flight bounced 3% last week.
The latest improvement follows a strong session for US technology stocks on Friday.
Today’s session includes further developments in the takeover battle for FTSE 250-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
FTSE 100 Live Monday
Hipgnosis bidding war continues
FTSE 100 sets new high
Big updates all through the day tomorrow
17:05 , Daniel O'Boyle
Tomorrow will see closely watched announcements at the start of the day, in the late morning and in the evening, with HSBC results, Eurozone GDP and Amazon results all on the agenda.
Here’s the full schedule:
Results
Whitbread, HSBC
Trading updates
HSBC, St James’s Place, Glencore, Hargreaves Lansdown, Alta Financial, Rotork
US Results
Amazon, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola
Economics
9am - German GDP (q1)
10am - Eurozone GDP (q1)
FTSE 100 closes at another record despite weaker afternoon
16:38 , Daniel O'Boyle
The FTSE 100 closed at a record high for the fifth time in six trading days, despite drifting in the afternoon, as it closed up seven points at 8,147.03.
London’s top flight rocketed to an intraday high, the fifth straight day it has done so, in early trading, peaking at 8188 in the mid-morning.
It struggled to keep up that momentum, however.
Frasers and Anglo American were among the big risers. JD Sports was one of the top fallers.
US stocks up ahead of big week.
15:45 , Daniel O'Boyle
US stocks are higher today ahead of another big week of earnings and an expected Fed rate hold.
The S&P 500 is up 0.3% to 5,115.65, while the Dow Jones is up 0.2% to 38,308.50. The Nasdaq is up 0.3% at 15,980.77.
This week sees megacaps Apple and Amazon reporting results, while the Fed will meet on Wednesday. Markets see another hold as overwhelmingly likely, but will look for guidance on when the first cut might be.
Financial Times signs licensing deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI
15:06 , Daniel O'Boyle
The Financial Times has become the latest media company to sign a deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI as newspapers eye lucrative opportunities to hand over content to train large language models.
The FT today said it had signed a “strategic partnership and licensing agreement” with OpenAI to “enhance ChatGPT with attributed content, help improve its models’ usefulness by incorporating FT journalism, and collaborate on developing new AI products and features for FT readers.”
FT Group CEO John Ridding said the deal “recognises the value of our award-winning journalism and will give us early insights into how content is surfaced through AI.
City Comment: Mortgage rates will fall again, but not any time soon
13:44 , Jonathan Prynn
Today it was the turn of NatWest and Santander to join the queue of major lenders to tweak their mortgage rates — and not to the advantage of borrowers.
Neither of the high street lending giants pushed through huge increases — mainly in the region of 20 basis points — but the direction of travel is clear and unhelpful.
It follows similar moves by Barclays, HSBC and the Co-op last week. The heady, and brief days of sub-4% money at the start of the year now seems a far distant memory.
Delivery apps Getir and Gorillas to quit UK with 1,500 jobs at risk
12:44 , Daniel O'Boyle
Delivery firm Getir will quit the UK - as well as Germany, the Netherlands and the US - with 1,500 jobs at the British arm at risk.
The business also owns the Gorillas brand, which will close in the UK as well.
The Turkish business was once valued at $12 billion, but has struggled since the pandemic amid mounting losses. In a funding round in September of last year, its valuation was cut to $2.5 billion.
Vivendi aims for split-up
11:58 , Daniel O'Boyle
FRENCH-owned media giant Vivendi said today it has launched a major feasibility study on plans to break itself up into four companies to “unleash” its potential.
Under the proposal, broadcaster and film studio Canal+, advertising and PR group Havas, and a publishing business including Lagardère, would have separate listings, as well as the rump Vivendi entity.
Vivendi also announced first quarter revenues up 5.4% to €4.275 billion (£3.66 billion).
Highlights included the release of John Wick 4 in Australia and New Zealand.
Eating out could soon get cheaper as restaurant input costs fall at record pace
11:26 , Daniel O'Boyle
The painful rise in London restaurant bills over recent years is set to ease finally after a key measure of hospitality industry cost inflation today showed the biggest month-on-month fall ever recorded.
Diners have been hammered by the huge increase in the cost of eating out, which has been fuelled by wages being pushed up by shortages of chefs and waiting and bar staff since Brexit and the pandemic, a spike in energy and food inflation and other burdens such as higher rents and rates.
But the CGA Prestige Foodservice Index (FPI) today revealed a record 1.4% monthly fall in March compared with February. That reduced the annual rate to below 10% for the first time in two years.
'Not a great start to the week' as two 'big six' lenders increase mortgage rates
10:39 , Daniel O'Boyle
Two of the UK’s biggest lenders have started the week by raising mortgage rates, as markets increasingly suggest the Bank of England is unlikely to cut interest rates until August.
Both NatWest and Santander announced mortgage price increases today. NatWest will raise interest rates by up to 0.21 percentage points on selected new mortgage products and up to 0.22 percentage points on selected remorgage products.
Santander will up rates by up to 0.2 percentage points for new purchases and remortgages.
FTSE 100 sets new record, Aston Martin leads FTSE 250
10:19 , Graeme Evans
London’s current status as one of the global stock markets to watch today helped the FTSE 100 index to another record.
A fresh peak of 8185.6 was reached shortly after the opening bell before the top flight settled 40.01 points higher at 8179.84.
The FTSE 100 advanced 3% last week and is up almost 6% this year, putting London among the 2024 frontrunners after a long run of global underperformance.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said commodity prices and the benefit of sterling weakness for overseas earning stocks were among factors.
He added: “It will not have escaped the attention of international investors that the UK remains relatively cheap in terms of valuation compared to most developed markets.”
Recent takeover activity has also helped, with Anglo American up 39p to 2682p ahead of BHP’s response to last week’s £31 billion bid rejection.
Frasers Group surged 3% or 26p to 822p after the retailer launched a new £80 million buyback of shares and Deutsche Bank unveiled a “Buy” recommendation and 1000p target price.
JD Sports Fashion fell 1.65p to 118.5p after the same bank adopted a “Hold” stance. NatWest also gave up some of Friday’s results-day gains by retreating 5.6p to 301.8p.
Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 index started the week 65.25 points higher at 19,889.41. Aston Martin Lagonda and publisher Future were the pacesetters after gains of 4%.
Hipgnosis bid war may not be over
09:36 , Daniel O'Boyle
The bidding war for the Hipgnosis Songs Fund is unlikely to be over, even after the music investment vehicle’s board accepted a new bid from private equity titan Blackstone today. City markets suggest.
Shares today lifted by another 2% to 106p, above the Blackstone offer price. That suggests markets think at least one more bid could be in the works. The rise also pushes the shares slightly above the 104.5p IPO price, meaning any investors who bought in during the 2017 float and held their shares until today would be in a very small profit.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: “Both parties clearly want to be victorious and the investment trust’s board seem happy to switch allegiance to whichever is offering the most money. Ultimately, the winner could be the one with the biggest chequebook.”
If the bidding war continues, Blackstone appears to have the upper hand. The Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Management, chaired by music mogul and fund founder Merck Mercuriadis, holds a call option that would allow it to buy all the fund’s hits, for the highest of its share price, the fair value of its portfolio or the top rival bid on the table. Concord’s last bid already topped the portfolio value, meaning Blackstone only needs to match Concord’s best offer to win the bid battle.
Market snapshot: Another record high
09:04 , Daniel O'Boyle
Take a look at today’s snapshot as the record run continues.
FTSE 100 hits new high, Frasers and Anglo American advance
08:20 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 is up 32.13 points to 8171.96, having peaked at a fresh all-time high of 8185 in early dealings.
Anglo American shares rose 2% or 64p to 2707p as traders await BHP’s next move after last week’s rejection of a £31 billion takeover proposal.
Frasers Group lifted 2% or 19p to 815p after the retailer launched a new buyback programme and Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of the stock with a “Buy” recommendation and 1000p target price.
JD Sports Fashion moved the other way, down 2.5p to 117.6p as the same bank adopted a “Hold” stance.
In contrast to London’s top flight, the mid-cap FTSE 250 index has started the week 38.88 points lower at 19,785.28.
Elementis shareholder slams 'management failures'
08:17 , Daniel O'Boyle
A shareholder in FTSE 250 chemicals firm Elementis has slammed the business for what it calls “self-inflicted management failures”, and called on the board to refocus the business in an effort to be acquired.
Gatemore Capital Management, which owns a little less than 1% of Elementis shares, said it was concerned by the “gulf between the fundamental strength of Elementis and the company’s persistently weak share price”.
It said that the share performance was down to “poor management of the current CEO”, and called on the business to conduct a strategic review of the portfolio “with the aim of refocussing the business and making it more attractive for a strategic buyer”.
Elementis shares are up 4.3% to 143.4p today.
FTSE 100 set for new record after US tech bounce, Brent Crude at $88
07:28 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index is set to post another new record after tech stocks including Nvidia led a strong session for US markets on Friday.
The semiconductor giant rose 6% as the S&P 500 index finished 1% higher and the Nasdaq Composite by 2% to round off their best weeks since November.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, having been held back by a 3% post-results decline for oil business Exxon Mobil.
Stock markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong have opened the week about 0.8% higher, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 is closed for a public holiday,
IG Index expects London’s top flight to rise by about 0.5% or 43 points to 8183, having jumped by 3% last week.
Apple and Amazon in the US and HSBC and Shell in the UK are among the companies reporting in the coming days, while traders will be looking to Wednesday’s interest rates announcement by the Federal Reserve.
On commodity markets, Brent Crude is 0.7% lower to $88.67 a barrel and gold down 0.3% to $2331 an ounce.
Hipgnosis accepts new bid from Blackstone in latest bidding war twist
07:20 , Daniel O'Boyle
Private equity giant Blackstone has submitted a new, higher, bid for the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, in the latest twist in the bidding war for the music royalties owner.
US-based royalties fund Concord had made a bid earlier this month, before Blackstone approached the Hipgnosis board over a higher offer, prompting Concord to up its offer.
However, Blackstone has returned with an offer that values the fund at $1.57 billion, which the board of the fund has accepted.
Robert Naylor, the Chair of Hipgnosis, said: “The Board is pleased to unanimously recommend this US$1.6 billion Offer for Hipgnosis from Blackstone. Since we started our strategic review, we have been clearly focused on looking at all the options to deliver shareholder value. We are delighted that, following competitive interests in acquiring Hipgnosis, our investors now have a chance to immediately realise their holding at an increased premium.”
Recap: Friday's top stories
07:15 , Simon Hunt
Good morning from the Standard City desk.
There is a level of trepidation tech businesses feel about the state of the London markets. There are perhaps half a dozen firms worth a billion pounds or more who would list tomorrow were conditions not so unfavourable.
And frankly, they’re not getting much encouragement from the LSE’s tech incumbents, who appear to be seizing the first chance to exit.
Darktrace was the latest to quit the public markets on Friday amid a $5.3 billion US takeover, and it moaned about the dismal share price response in London whenever its performance improved.
Does that really matter? Many tech firms can comfortably pootle along privately with the support of venture capital and specialist investors. Others may be able to pull off a billion-dollar float on the Nasdaq, and why begrudge them that success?
But even if British firms only move their administrative headquarters to New York and keep operations at home, a gentle erosion of confidence and flow of talent will inevitably follow as the gravitational pull of New York takes hold.
The American stock markets have left the London Stock Exchange in the dust over the past decade - a large part of that divergence comes from the enormous rally in big tech stocks.
If the LSE stands any chance of a revival in the decade to come, the British tech sector is going to have to play a starring role.
~
Here’s a summary of our top stories from Friday:
The £100 billion City exodus: On the day Anglo American starts to fight off a £31 billion bid, the Standard reveals that the value of companies are selling up or shipping their main listing out from the London Stock Exchange has hit £100 billion already this year
NatWest “solid” results as govt readies to sell its now less than 30% stake over the summer. Profits down by £500m to £1.3bn due to intense mortgage market competition.
Begbies Traynor Q1 “red flag” report finds the level of 'significant' financial distress leapt 30.8% year-on-year in Q1 2024 with 554,554 companies affected, including 157,156 in London. 40,174 UK companies are in “critical” distress
Low cost gym operator, The Gym Group, appoints Savills to advise on its site selection, as it plans about 50 new openings across the UK over the next 3 years.
