Currencies send EasyJet into black, Capita confident

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to begin Tuesday morning's session with a 37-point rise, erasing the small losses from the previous day.

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Currency turbulence sent low-cost carrier easyJet descending into the black in the six months to 31 March, reporting a loss before tax of £24m against a £7m profit a year earlier. The FTSE 100 firm made a constant-currency profit before tax of £5m as total revenue grew 0.3% to £1.771bn from £1.767bn. “We are confident that over the full year we will again grow passenger numbers, revenue and profit,” said chief executive Carolyn McCall.

Outsourcing group Capita said it was confident of hitting full year targets despite having secured less than half the amount of contracts as at the same time last year. In the year to date it has secured £458m aggregate major contracts, acquired four companies and disposed of two businesses, versus £1.2bn secured and seven businesses acquired last May.

Newspaper round-up

Support among business for Britain staying in the EU has declined since David Cameron announced an in/out referendum three months ago, but still remains significant. Despite warnings about the economic costs of Brexit from the Treasury, the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the lead for the remain side has narrowed from 30 points to 17. - The Guardian

Global banks have turned more cautious towards the UK as a potentially economically disruptive vote on EU membership looms in June, according to a rating agency. Credit Benchmark, an agency that aggregates the internal lending risk assessments of big international banks and uses them to devise ratings, said that lenders had turned slightly more cautious towards the UK earlier this year. - Financial Times

Steady inflation numbers out of Beijing helped quell concerns about the health of China’s economy, enabling many regional stock markets to trim early declines, while a weaker yen again buoyed Japan’s export-focused equities. Japan’s broad Topix index and the Nikkei 225 were both 2.1 per cent higher, as the yen weakened 0.4 per cent to ¥108.71 per US dollar. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up one-quarter of a percentage point. - Financial Times

Hopes of a meaningful deal to boost oil prices were evaporating last night, after Saudi Arabia’s appointment of a new oil minister consolidated the grip of a powerful reformist prince who has said that he does not care about the price of crude. Oil ministers from Opec are scheduled to descend on Vienna on June 2 for a policy meeting, the first since December, when a gathering broke up, sending the price to a 12-year low of $27 a barrel. - The Times

US close

US markets ended a high volume day mixed on Monday, with oil prices continuing their slide from European trading, sending energy stocks tumbling while health care equities gained.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.2% at 17,705.91, the S&P 500 finished 0.08% higher at 2,058.69, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% at 4,750.21.

Market strategists said it seemed like there was a lot of rotation going on, into the so-called safe havens.