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- FTSE 100 up 24 points
- UK car output down for fifth straight month
- Pub garden smoking ban reportedly on cards
Pub garden smoking ban could force closures, industry warns
As ministers reportedly mull a ban on smoking in pub gardens and other outdoor areas, industry members have warned such a move could force businesses to shut.
UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday that such a move would not come “without economic harm”.
She said: “It’s not without economic cost to businesses that are providing outside areas for smokers and non-smokers, and also vapers, because I note in some of the reports there’s suggestions that vaping in outside areas could also be restricted.
“This needs to be thought through very carefully before we damage businesses and economic growth and jobs.”
The Sun reported on Thursday that leaked Whitehall documents showed the government was considering widening the smoking ban under a strengthened tobacco and vapes bill... Read more
This would see smoking prohibited at the likes of outdoor restaurants, sport venues, nightclubs and in small parks, with vape users and shisha bars also set to be targeted.
Pound recoups August losses
The pound has hit its highest level in just over a month and fully recouped losses seen in early August.
Come Thursday morning, sterling was up 0.23% for the day and trading at €1.1889.
This meant the pound had recovered on a drop to below €1.16 seen after the Bank of England opted to cut its base rate to 5% earlier in the month.
It comes as Eurozone rate cut speculation has grown after Spanish inflation data on Thursday showed price rises slowed to 2.2% this month, with figures due from Germany later in the day.
UK to officially enter trans-Pacific trade bloc in December
The UK is set to officially join a trans-Pacific trading bloc on December 18 following ratification by Peru.
Entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership will initially give UK exporters tariff-free access to Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Vietnam and Peru.
This will eventually stretch to 11 countries, with the first six having ratified the UK’s entry already.
This comes as part of the former government’s post-Brexit trade goals, with the move set to eventually boost the UK economy by £2 billion annually in the long term.
Eurozone economic sentiment picks up on Olympics
European Commission data on Thursday showed sentiment towards the bloc’s economy improved this month, climbing against market expectations.
Its economic sentiment indicator climbed from 95.8 to 96.9 points between August and July, reflecting improvement based on responses from businesses and households.
Analysts had predicted a flat month-on-month reading as the indicator remained off historic averages, weighed down by the struggling German economy.
ING economists noted the improvement “was mainly boosted by the French data, which immediately suggests that optimism around the Olympics boosted sentiment”.
Consumer confidence measures fell over the period, however, from -13.5 to -13.4.
Diageo boosted on China brandy import backtrack
Diageo PLC (LON:DGE) gained early boost on Thursday after China scrapped plans to introduce anti-dumping measures on imported brandy.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed beverage company climbed early on before falling as they began trading without the right to their latest dividend award.
China launched a probe last January over European brandy imports on fears companies were selling drinks in the country below market rates.
This had weighed on liquor makers, with China making one of the largest markets for the likes of France’s Remy.
Producers said at the time that they suspected the move from China was part of a broader trade spat rather than the liquor market itself.
Diageo climbed 2.3% initially on the news.