The FTSE stumbled this Tuesday despite the continued growth of its oil and mining stocks.
Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) and G4S (CO:G4S) were the FTSE’s main problems. Despite double digit growth in both annual revenue and profit, the Primark-owner fell nearly 4% due to comments about the adverse impact of weakened sterling on next year’s first half margins, alongside news of a 1% drop in October like-for-like retail sales from the British Retail Consortium.
The 8%-plus plunge suffered by G4S was far easier to understand. The security giant revised its full year sales growth guidance lower, from between 4% and 6% to between 3% and 4%, as it warned about the negative impact of its Middle East and India divisions.
This dragged the FTSE down by 0.2%, a decline that likely would have been greater if it weren’t for a half a percent jump from Shell (LON:RDSa), a 1.3% rise from BP (LON:BP) and a smattering of green in its mining sector. As for the pound, it was a mixed morning, with a 0.2% dip against the dollar – one that took cable back below $1.315 – countered by a 0.2% climb against the euro.
Looking to this afternoon and the Dow Jones is set to nudge a bit closer to 23600 with a 0.1% rise after the bell. There’s not much in the way of data, with only the JOLTS job opening reading, set to fall from 6.08 million to 5.98 million month-on-month.
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