FTSE 100	3898.85, -26.35	Dow	7776.18, -148.38
FTSE 250	6351.52, +30.62	Nasdaq	1545.20, -41.2
FTSE All Share	1971.49, -12.69	S&P 500	815.94, -16.92
Nikkei	8236.08, -390.89	Hang Seng	13444.50, -675.00
Oil (Crude)	$52.38	Gold	$925.30
Base Rate	0.5%	10 Yr Gilt	3.2%
£/$	1.41	£/€	1.074
1 month LIBOR	1.063	3 month LIBOR	1.683

 

Markets

London - The FTSE 100 is currently 99.34 points lower at 3,799.51. Barclays tops the fallers’ board, down 9.3%, after Societe Generale recommended selling the shares. Cadbury also suffers a downgrade, courtesy of JPMorgan, pushing the stock down 3.4%. BHP Billiton is down 5.5% and Rio Tinto off 3.2% after copper prices retreated. Land Securities is the lone riser, after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the stock to buy from Neutral.

New York - US markets ended the day lower on Friday, although all three major indices managed their third consecutive weekly gain. Comments from bank executives pushed financials lower while lower commodity prices dragged energy and mining companies into the red.

The Dow Jones dropped 148.38 points to close at 7,776.18 while the S&P 500 fell 16.92 points to end at 815.94. The Nasdaq lost 41.8 points to finish at 1,545.20.  

JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America executives both said that trading in March had been tougher than the previous two months. It had been upbeat comments about the first two months of the year that had fuelled the recent rally in the sector. JPMorgan fell almost 5% and Bank of America declined 3.2%.

Falling commodities led related stocks down. Oil fell 3.6% leading to a near 2% decline for Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp. Aluminium producer Alcoa dropped 3.9%.

IBM caused the heaviest weight on the Dow as tech stocks were hit. The company finished the day 4.7%. Intel slid 2.5% after announcing it might issue up to $1 billion in stock and was countersued by Nvidia Corp for breach of contract.

One highlight came from General Motors after news that its German unit, Opel, have forecast what could be its best quarterly results in a decade. Shares in the company jumped 6.2% as a result.

US light crude oil for May delivery slid $1.96 to $52.38 a barrel. COMEX gold for June delivery lost $16.90 to $925.30 an ounce. Treasury prices declined, raising the yield on the 10 year note to 2.76% from 2.73%.

Tokyo - The Nikkei sank 390.89 points to close at 8,236.08 this morning. Real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan slumped 9.2% after smaller rival Azel Corp went bankrupt. Mizuho Financial Group plunged 8.8% after Goldman Sachs recommended selling the stock.

Hong Kong - The Hang Seng plummeted 675 points this morning to close at 13,444.50. China Construction Bank, the world’s second largest lender by market value, fell 6.6% after reporting a slump in fourth quarter profit. Cnooc Ltd, China’s biggest offshore oil explorer, slid 4.7%, in line with tumbling oil prices.

Economics

UK Mortgage Approvals (Feb) 0930 BST

Mortgage approvals have been hovering at around a third of the long term average for some months now. A gradual improvement is expected as 2009 progresses, thanks in large part to the government guarantees that will soon be attached to newly issued asset backed securities, as per the UK government announcement on 19 January. In addition, Northern Rock is set to resume lending. Analysts look for 38k new mortgages to be approved in January, a slight improvement from December, but overall still at a depressed level.

Corporate

Cranswick Plc said its full-year results are likely to be ahead of market expectations and that total sales in the final quarter jumped 11 percent from a year ago. The company said total sales for the year ended March 31, 2009 were 10 per cent higher than the previous year on a like-for-like basis, excluding the animal feed business which was disposed of during the first quarter of the prior year. Food sales grew 9 percent during the year, Cranswick said in a statement. "With strong market positions, new bank facilities and well invested plants, the company is well placed to continue its successful development", the company said. Analysts on average expect the company to report pre-tax profit before exceptional items of £36.1m and revenue of £649.1m for the year ended March. The company also said its group finance director, John Lindop, who will retire at the end of May, will be replaced by Mark Bottomley, the current group financial controller.

Mitie Group Plc continued to win work from companies looking to cut costs through outsourcing in its fourth-quarter, it said today, adding full-year earnings would meet its expectations. The group said it had won public sector contracts spanning the transport, utilities and healthcare industries during the final quarter of the year. Mitie said it had also won a range of facilities management and multi-service contracts over the past three months but it had seen slowing growth in the construction sector. "Interior fit-out and new-build housing, to which we have limited exposure, have slowed, but group earnings for the year ending March 30 2009 continue in line with management expectations," the company said in a statement. The consensus forecast shows analysts on average expect the company to deliver a pre-tax profit of £78m for the year. Mitie, which has a committed funding line of £230m available until 2012, said it is well positioned to take advantage of value-creating acquisitions and other opportunities as they arise.

TUI Travel said it was paying a net E28.5m in cash for a stake in Air Berlin in a cross-shareholding agreement, the company said today. As part of the agreement, Air Berlin would receive a 19.9 percent stake in TUI Travel’s German carrier TUIfly. The announcement comes a day after Air Berlin said it won a second key investor as Turkish family Sabanci struck a deal to buy a 15.3 percent in Air Berlin, scooping up part of the stake formerly held by U.S. billionaire Len Blavatnik. Blavatnik had sold his 18.9 percent stake in Air Berlin in January, leaving the market guessing who bought the holding. Since Air Berlin’s initial public offering in 2006, the company’s stock has fallen from 12 euros to just over 3 euros now. Over the past year alone, its price has more than halved. Air Berlin also released 2008 results on Monday, saying its operating profit eased to E14.2m from E21.4m a year earlier. The figure was in line with forecasts. The average analyst estimate saw the company swinging to a 2008 operating profit of E13m from a loss in 2007.

VT Group said today it is trading in line with its expectations and is on track with the proposed sale of its shipbuilding joint venture stake to BAE Systems. The group said its services business is showing good growth with the order book rising 12 percent to £4.6bn.
VT agreed to sell its 45 percent share of a shipbuilding joint venture, BVT Surface fleet, to joint-venture partner BAE Systems earlier this year for £380m. It said it will exit the shipbuilding business later this year, nearly 150 years after it launched its first boat on London’s river Thames. VT said the deal, which will be exercised through an option in its agreement with BAE, will enable it to concentrate on new business opportunities "more aggressively" through acquisitions. The company added it has appointed David J. Dacquino as Chief Executive of its VT Services Inc group as part of its focus on expansion in the U.S. market.

Lamprell posted higher full-year profit, but slashed its final dividend by 74 percent citing the difficult market conditions. "It has become apparent in recent weeks that there is a marked slowdown in the company’s business except for the rig refurbishment business which is currently busy but is anticipated to slowdown in the second half of the year," the company said. However, Lamprell said it continued to operate with a substantial order book extending into late 2010. For the year ended December 2008, the company’s adjusted net profit was $95.5m, compared with $86.2m in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 58.5 percent to $740.8m. Analysts on average expected $630.7m. The company proposed a final dividend of 3.15 cents per share, compared with 12.25 cents a year ago.

The above details are provided for information only and are not intended to be construed a solicitation for the sale or purchase of any particular investment nor as specific investment advice.

 

 

 

Posted: March 30th, 2009 under Asset Management.
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