Glencore surges in Hong Kong trading
London open
The Footsie is being called to start the day higher by as much 115 points from last Friday´s closing value of 6,129.98.
Stocks to watch
Rolls-Royce has announced plans to cut another 400 jobs in its marine business, on top of the 600 job cuts already announced in May.The FTSE 100 listed company announced its plans on Monday, which also include investing more in research and development. The company said the job cuts are due to the low price of oil and a subsequent fall in orders. They will be carried out by the end of 2016.
Xchanging confirmed on Monday that it has received approaches from Capita and Apollo Global Management regarding offers for the company. Capita said it has been in discussions with the board of Xchanging since early August about a possible cash offer for the company.
CLS Holdings has purchased Chancery House in Sutton for £10.2m. The FTSE 250 listed company announced the deal for the eight storey office building on Monday. The company said it has identified opportunities to improve the building for its occupiers and to attract more tenants to move in. CLS Holdings executive chairman Sten Mortstedt said it’s an attractive addition that will fit well into the company’s London portfolio.
In the press
Hong Kong listed shares in Glencore surged as much as 40.2 per cent to HK$15 in morning trading following a weekend report that the embattled commodities group was open to take over offers. The Swiss-based group has seen its shares whipsaw after analysts at Investec last Monday published a note suggesting the company’s equity could be wiped out if weak commodity prices persisted. Monday’s jump in Hong Kong follows a weekend report in The Telegraph that the company would listen to offers for a takeover of the entire company, albeit management do not think there are any buyers willing to pay a fair price given current market conditions. – Financial Times
George Osborne will put Andrew Adonis, the former Labour transport secretary, at the head of a significant overhaul of the way Britain delivers big infrastructure projects, from high-speed rail to nuclear power stations. In a raid behind enemy lines, the chancellor will name Lord Adonis on Monday as the first head of a non-political national infrastructure commission, an idea stolen from Labour’s election manifesto. – Financial Times
Knight Frank’s 65 equity partners will share a bonus pot of about £80 million this year after the property consultancy notched up a record set of results, despite signs of a slowdown at the top end of London’s housing market. Knight Frank announced a 19 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £162 million in the year to the end of March as it helped the ultra-rich to sell their homes and arranged some of the biggest commercial and residential investment deals worldwide. – The Times
US close
Wall Street jumped following the release of much-weaker-than expected jobs data for September.
The Dow Jones Industrials finished higher by 1.23% or 200.36 points to 16,472.37, alongside a 1.43% advance for the S&P 500 to reach 1,951.36 and a 1.74% jump in the Nasdaq Composite to 4,707.78.
The intra-day turnaround in the benchmark S&P 500 index, which recovered from an initial 1.6% slide after the employment figures hit the tape was the largest in four years.
That allowed the S&P 500 to end the week with a 1% gain. Buyers apparently stepped in again, as they did on Tuesday, when the S&P 500 fell to trade just five points above the 25 August low of 1,867.61.