Aberdeen Asset hit by EM outflows, BHP joint venture facing £3.4bn lawsuit

London open

The top flight index is seen starting 13 points lower than Friday’s close of 6,375.

Stocks to watch

Full year underlying pre-tax profits at investment house Aberdeen Asset Management rose just a touch to £491m from £490m due to the slump in Asian and emerging market equities.

Revenues were up 5% to £1.17bn, while cash at the end of the year was £531m, down from £567m.

Chief executive Martin Gilbert said the weakness in equity markets “may have some way to run.”

However, he added that “the long term fundamental attractions of investing in these high growth economies remain compelling for patient investors”.

Legal action against BHP Billiton’s joint venture with Vale is expected to be launched today, after the two dams were breached at the beginning of the month.

The Fundão tailings dam and the Santarém water dam at the Samarco Mineração iron ore mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil were breached on 5 November, killing 13 people and leaving six people unaccounted for.

The company confirmed that the Brazilian Federal Government and state governments intend to commence legal proceedings against Samarco, Vale and BHP Billiton for clean-up costs and damages.

In the press

Deutsche Börse is to follow in the footsteps of the London Stock Exchange Group by encouraging investors to trade large blocks of shares hidden from public view without breaching new rules on controversial “dark pools”. The operator of Germany’s largest stock exchange on Monday will launch an amended form of share “placements” on its public market — a type of order that may only been seen by people involved in similar ​deals. – Financial Times

The International Monetary Fund is to give the yuan a historic vote of confidence on Monday when it includes the Chinese currency in its elite club of major currencies.The yuan, also known as the renminbi, is widely expected to be added to the IMF’s group of international reserve currencies after an IMF meeting held by its managing director Christine Lagarde. – Telegraph

Britain’s retailers are hoping the flat reaction to Black Friday on the high street, when shoppers preferred trawling the internet to visiting a department store, will pay off on Cyber Monday as the pre-Christmas discounting spree moves online. Imported from the US like its Black Friday cousin, Cyber Monday is forecast to bring in more than £900m for online retailers – up nearly a third on last year. By the end of Cyber Monday, total sales over the four-day shopping event will surpass £3bn in the UK, some analysts have predicted. – Guardian

US close

US stocks closed on a mixed note on Friday during a half-day of trading for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Dow fell 0.08% while the Nasdaq rose 0.23% and the S&P 500 increased 0.23%.

Earlier in the session equities were all lower following the sell-off in China as authorities in the nation investigated brokerages Citic Securities Co. and Guosen Securities over suspected violations. The Shanghai index closed down 5.49%, the largest daily percentage loss since 18 August.

However, the market turned around slightly as gains in telecoms, utilities and consumer staples offset a slump in energy stocks.