By Connor Campbell, Financial Analyst, Spreadex
It’s the start of a new month, so what better time for another round of manufacturing mania!
After the bell the FTSE made its latest attempt to keep above 7400, sporadically dipping its toes across that level with a 25 to 30 point increase. Though the miners pulled back after yesterday’s gains, the oil stocks were feeling good, in part thanks to the fact that Brent Crude is nudging ever closer to $53 per barrel.
BP (LON:BP) also had a more stock-specific reason to rise this Tuesday. The company managed to eke out a $144 net profit in its second quarter, a vast improvement on the $1.4 billion loss this time last year. Combine that with an interim dividend of 10 cents per share and investors barrelled into the stock, sending BP 2.5% higher to a one month peak.
Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) also gave a helping hand to the FTSE this morning. The defence giant jumped nearly 7% after knocking analysts’ estimates out of the park with (an admittedly currency movement-aided) half year pre-tax profit of £1.94 billion against the previous year’s £2.15 billion loss.
The pound only managed some mild gains this morning, though a 0.1% increase against the dollar was all it took for cable to cross $1.32 for the first time since last September. A 0.2% jump against the euro, on the other hand, couldn’t really rescue sterling from its current lows.
Still to come this morning is the latest manufacturing PMI. Analysts are expecting a very slight improvement, from 54.3 to 54.4 month-on-month. That kind of minor increase may not make too much difference to the FTSE or pound. Anything higher or lower, meanwhile, could cause a shift in trading.
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