Date: Tuesday 03 Jul 2012
LONDON (ShareCast) - 1630: Today saw Barclay's Chief Operating Officer Jerry del Missier join Bob Diamond in his exit of the shamed company over the LIBOR scandal. Meanwhile, May looks to have been a tough month for hard pressed consumers, as new unsecured borrowing levels comfortably outstripped repayments. Figures from the BofE show that borrowings outweighed repayments by £732m, well above the £403m monthly average over the December to May period. Elsewhere, the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers´ index (PMI) for the month of June has come in at 48.2, down from 54.4 in May. Looking abroad, Slovenia is being profiled as the sixth potential Eurozone member to be bailed out, according to Bloomberg reports. The FTSE 100 closed up 47 points at 5,688.
1517: Barclayss Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jerry del Missier has now quit. As well, and according to some reports, Xstrata holder Knight Vinke has shown his support for Qatar´s proposal that Glencore submit an improved offer.
1452: The fall in shares of Aberdeen Asset Management is being attributed by the FT´s Alpahaville to a placing by Credit Suisse. Also of interest, and cited by StreetIsider.com, a large News Corp holder is said to want News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch out of the entertainment CEO role. FTSE 100 up 26 to 5,667.
1415: Footsie is just about clinging on to positive territory, with just under two-thirds of the index's constituents in the blue. Royal Dutch Shell, BP and BG Group all tend firmer despite Deutsche Bank cutting price targets for the trio. Shell's target price (TP) has been trimmed to 2,475p from 2,600p; BP's TP has been reduced to 500p from 525p and BG's TP is now 1,700p, down from 1,800p previously. The German bank has lowered its Brent crude forecasts by an average of 11% coverign the period from 2012 -15. FTSE 100 is up 15 at 5,656.
1325: Gains on both the Footsie and the FTSE 350 are being led by miners at the moment, although on the latter it is on-line supermarket operator Ocado which is registering the sharpest percentage gain. On the negative side of things, and also on the FTSE 350, Avocet Mining and Man Group have both taken a knock following broker downgrades. Nomura has slashed its target on the former to 120p form 220p before, while Credit Suisse has downgraded Man shares to neutral, from outperform. Britvic is also losing ground after announcing a product recall linked to a potential packaging safety issue. Worth highlighting, some analysts insist on warning about the thin trading volumes seen during the most recent run-up in stocks. The US ISM services report is scheduled for release at 3PM. FTSE 100 up 14 to 5,655.
1100: Mining stocks are keeping the top share index slightly in the blue, although equities are off their best levels of the day. That as investors speculate on the possibility for further monetary easing both in China and in the United States. As regards the former, a state-owned newspaper today called for a cut in banks´ reserve requirement ratio in a front page article. Nevertheless, today´s construction PMI number has come in well below forecasts. Similarly, the British Chambers of Commerce´s (BCC) latest quarterly outlook indicates that the pace of expansion in the UK is still too low for sustainable growth. Interestingly, British companies are said to now be much more worried by exchange rates, on the back of the state of disarray in which the Eurozone now finds itself. Even so, the BCC sees stronger growth prospects in 2013. FTSE 100 up 16 to 5,656.
0927: Resource stocks are keeping the blue-chip index's head above water as investors bet that central banks across the globe will resort to more stimulus measures in their attempts to ginger-up economic growth. Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England are expected to act this week at their monthly meetings, with the ECB tipped to chop its key lending rate by at least a quarter of a point while the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street is expected to increase its asset purchase programme. One mining stock that is not on the up is Talvivaara, the nickel and zinc miner. The group said it is unlikely to hit its nickel production targets this year as a result of flooding, scheduled maintenance and a fatality-related stoppage during its second quarter. FTSE 100 us up 7 at 5,647.
0820: The brief but colourful stint as Chief Executive Officer of Barclays has ended for Bob Diamond, who has caved in to demands for him to quit. Diamond, who is due to answer questions to the Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday, said that the 'external pressure placed on Barclays has reached a level that risks damaging the franchise - I cannot let that happen.' Diamond's decision to fall on his sword has been welcomed by the market, which had marked Barclays shares up in early trading. Otherwise, it is mainly miners that are responsible for the top-share index's solid start to the day. FTSE 100 is up 14 at 5,655.