Friday newspaper share tips: Rio Tinto, Hays, PageGroup

Investors in Rio Tinto need not worry about yesterday´s unexpected change of control in Mongolia´s parliament, the Financial Times´s Lex column said.

The opposition Mongolian People´s Party won control of the chamber by a landslide vote, prompting some to worry given that one of the miner´s largest projects, the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine, is located in the country.

Located near the Chinese border, the mine produces roughly 2.0% of the world´s copper supply.

However, as the market reaction to the political upset showed - the country´s most recent sovereign bond issue jumped sharply - international in fact reacted positively to the political seachange.

Nonetheless, for the mine to generate a high-teens rate of return requires that the global price of copper reach $2.86 per pound, about one third above its current price.

Yet the mine is "largely a bet on the economy of its only realistic customer, China," Lex concluded.

Shares in Hays and PageGroup have taken a beating on fears of an economic slowdown in the UK and fewer EU workers crossing the channel sending their shares down by half, Lex said.

That completes the downturn endured by both recruiters during past downturns in fees.

So it is tempting to ask whether the fall is overdone, the tipster said.

They obtain two-thirds of revenues from outside the UK and the weaker pound will be an aid - albeit on a one-off basis.

Indeed, both companies are now more resilient than in 2008. Fees depend less on the City and being more capital light they have more room to return cash to shareholders.

Furthermore, it is unlikely that Brexit wil trigger a global downturn and fears of US policy have gone away, Lex said.

"Brexit may end up a British affair, and these are both now global companies."