Antofagasta copper production rises, RPC receives take-private offer
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 23 points lower on Wednesday, having closed down 0.99% at 6,901.39 on Tuesday.
Stocks to watch
Antofagasta said fourth quarter copper production rose 16.8% to 220,000 tonnes as a result of higher production at all operations, particularly at Centinela Concentrates which increased production by 68.3%. Full year production was at the top end of revised guidance, rising 3% to 725,300 tonnes due to higher production at Los Pelambres and Centinela. Gold production was 90,000 ounces in the fourth quarter, an 87.1% increase on the third quarter due to higher throughput, grades and recoveries at Centinela. Full year production was 210,100 ounces, the top end of guidance.
RPC Group finally on Wednesday confirmed that it has received a take-private offer from US private equity group Apollo, valuing the plastics company at £3.3m. Apollo's Rome UK bid vehicle has offered 782p per share in cash, with each shareholder also receiving the recently announced 8.1p per share interim dividend.
Vodafone announced on Wednesday that itself and Telefónica UK, trading as O2, have entered into non-binding heads of terms intended to strengthen their existing network sharing partnership. The FTSE 100 telecoms giant said the two firms planned to extend their existing network sharing partnership term, and include 5G technology at joint radio network sites. That would enable both Vodafone and O2 to deploy 5G faster, to offer 5G services to more customers over a wider geographic area, and to do so at a lower cost, it claimed.
Newspaper round-up
The scale of no-deal panic gripping major companies has been thrown into sharp focus by a series of damage-limitation announcements, as corporate Britain signalled it is running out of patience with Westminster gridlock. Sir James Dyson, the Brexit-backing billionaire, dealt a further blow to the government by revealing he is shifting his company headquarters to Singapore in a move that drew sharp criticism. – Guardian
Rents across Britain fell in 2018 for the first time in a decade, offering relief for tenants after years of inflation-busting rises. Figures from the Deposit Protection Scheme – a government-backed group that supervises tenancy deposits – showed the average rent fell by £9 (1.17%) from £774 in 2017 to £765. The typical UK tenant spent 31% of their income on rent in 2018, a fall of 0.5% from the year before, the DPS said. – Guardian
A row has erupted at one of Britain’s biggest pub companies after its third-largest shareholder called for the chairman to step down amid allegations of a boardroom gender bias. Fund management titan Aberdeen Standard has attacked Mitchells & Butlers, the owner of chains including Harvester, All Bar One and Toby Carvery, for failing to put more women on its board and questioning the independence of its non-executive directors. – Telegraph
US close
US stocks finished lower on Tuesday, with worries about a slowdown in China and some dire housing figures taking their toll on sentiment after the first trading day of the truncated week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session down 1.22% at 24,404.48, the S&P 500 lost 1.42% to 2,632.90, and the Nasdaq 100 was off 2.03% at 6,646.81.
Investors on Wall Street got their first chance to react to data out of China on Monday which showed that economic growth slowed to 6.6% in 2018 - the slowest pace since 1990.
Also adding to the downbeat mood was the IMF's decision, the day before, to cut its global growth forecast for 2019 to its lowest level in three years.
“It would appear that investors took advantage of light bank holiday trade on Monday to lock in some profits following a very encouraging post-Christmas period,” said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam earlier.