London close: Shares caught in US dollar downdraft
Stocks finished the last trading session of 2019 lower, weighed down by another move higher in the pound and losses overnight on Wall Street as investors took profits following a year of torrid gains.
By the end of trading, the FTSE 100 was down by 44.61 points at 7,542.44, while against the US dollar, the pound was ahead by 0.73% to 1.31995.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was off by 52.84 points to 21,883.42 and sterling 0.35% higher against the euro to 1.1750.
For the year as a whole, the top flight index gained roughly 12.1%, alongside a 25% jump in the second-tier index. Nonetheless, as for so many asset classes, those strong returns were in part but a bounce from the steep drop seen at the tail-end of 2018.
"It has been a year for rallies in equities, even for the FTSE 100, which is up about 12% in price terms from New Year’s Eve 2018. Compared to the S&P 500 or the Dax, this is fairly unimpressive, but is unsurprising given the tough macro outlook not just for the UK but for the broader global economy. We endured plenty of Brexit and trade war headlines in 2019, but these will go with us into next year, ensuring more volatility for traders and investors," said IG's Chris Beauchamp.
"The dollar ends the year on the back foot too, with signs of further life today in a host of other currencies. In addition, the last year has been a good one for gold bugs, and 2020 may well be a strong one too, if inflation picks up and Fed policy remains loose. Gold seems to have finished its pullback from the 2019 highs, and having stabilised in Q4 it looks poised to move higher once again."
Tuesday's losses came despite a steady reading on the 'official' China manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers' Index for December, which was unchanged from the month before at 50.2 (consensus: 50.1), which came alongside the first positive reading for a sub-index linked to new orders for export since May 2018.
Weighing on the US dollar and thus boosting the pound's value was the ongoing positive news-flow around US-China trade and the Federal Reserve's continuing expansion of its balance sheet, said analysts at MUFG Bank.
On that note, overnight, White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said of a phase-one deal with China "that's a done deal, put that one in the bag".
Closer to home, the Treasury announced that the National Living Wage was set to rise by 6.2% from 1 April to reach £8.72 per hour and economic conditions permitting, could reach £10.5 by 2024.
No major economic reports were published in the UK on Tuesday, athough in the US two closely-followed home price indices, from the Federal Housing Finance Agency and from Standard&Poor's, remained to be published at 1400 GMT, followed by the Conference Board's monthly consumer confidence gauge at 1500 GMT.
CLS sells office portfolio
CLS Holdings announced the sale of a portfolio of 19 regional offices in the UK for an aggregate cash consideration of £65m on Tuesday, to Singapore-based investment company Elite Capital Partners. The FTSE 250 firm said the offices are located across the UK outside of the south east and, following lease re-gears last year, had less active asset management potential. Following the completion of this transaction, CLS said it would hold only two assets in the UK located outside of the south east.
Mobile commerce company Bango updated the market on its expected financial performance for the 2019 financial year on Tuesday, reporting anticipated group revenue growth of over 40% to at least £9.3m. The AIM-traded firm said its total revenue would be below market expectations, mainly due to a customer data platform (CDP) license and marketplace supply deal not concluding in December as expected. It said its adjusted EBITDA for the full year was positive and expected to be more than £0.4m, which the board said would confirm the transition to cash generation.
Urban Exposure issued an update on its lending on Tuesday, reporting the completion of new committed lending of £498m during the year ending 31 December, it confirmed on Tuesday, and had now committed more than £1bn of new lending since admission to trading in May 2018. The firm said that a further £268m of loans were in the advanced stages of execution and were expected to close in the first quarter of 2020, having been delayed from closing in the fourth quarter of 2019 due to the impact of political and economic uncertainty. Due to the drawdown profile of those loans, the board said the impact of the delay on 2019 revenue was expected to be negligible.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,542.44 -0.59%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,883.42 -0.24%
techMARK (TASX) 4,166.93 -0.53%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Evraz (EVR) 404.00p 1.08%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 837.00p 0.62%
Meggitt (MGGT) 656.00p 0.58%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,279.00p 0.47%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 7,750.00p 0.44%
British Land Company (BLND) 638.80p 0.44%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,427.00p 0.37%
DCC (DCC) 6,534.00p 0.34%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,695.00p 0.26%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,419.00p 0.21%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
NMC Health (NMC) 1,767.00p -2.73%
Pearson (PSON) 637.00p -2.18%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 231.20p -1.92%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 328.10p -1.91%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 943.40p -1.83%
Rightmove (RMV) 633.60p -1.58%
Next (NXT) 7,018.00p -1.54%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 303.00p -1.53%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 594.60p -1.49%
BP (BP.) 471.60p -1.44%
FTSE 250 - Risers
TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) 262.50p 7.26%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 79.65p 5.41%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 183.00p 3.98%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 252.00p 3.50%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 127.00p 2.96%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 158.00p 2.93%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 88.50p 2.19%
LXI Reit (LXI) 140.00p 2.19%
PureTech Health (PRTC) 317.00p 1.91%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 164.20p 1.75%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Renishaw (RSW) 3,768.00p -3.43%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,063.80p -3.01%
FirstGroup (FGP) 125.40p -2.41%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 531.40p -2.39%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 139.60p -2.38%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 206.40p -2.37%
Avast (AVST) 452.80p -2.16%
NewRiver REIT (NRR) 200.50p -1.96%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 208.50p -1.88%
Senior (SNR) 172.90p -1.87%