Proactive Investors - 7.15am: FTSE opens in red
The FTSE 100 has opened in the red, the only one of the major European indices.
In early trades, the London index has dropped 20 points or 0.2% to 8,339.
Drug giants AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) and GSK (LON:GSK) are among the main fallers, with National Grid (LON:NG) and other utilities too.
Legal & General Group PLC (LSE:LGEN) is top riser, up 2% on the back of an announcement on bulk annuities.
7.59am: Global markets summary
"If anyone thought that political risk would settle down in the final weeks of 2024, they were wrong," says Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, summing up a strange 24 hours in South Korea.
As mentioned here yesterday, the president declared martial law to to avoid impeachment from the opposition, then following a tussle with special forces, Korean MPs entered parliament and voted to lift the martial law and all restrictions imposed, then the President issued a decree to end the martial law that he had imposed only a few hours earlier.
The Korean won fell more than 1.7% versus the US dollar overnight, electronics behemoth Samsung (LON:0593xq) fell 1% and the Kospi index fell nearly 1.5%, while defence stocks in Japan rose this morning.
"Analysts are also pointing out that events in South Korea are a problem for the US. South Korea is a staunch US ally and a key democracy in the Asia region. However, after Tuesday’s subversion of the democratic process, can the US rely on South Korea at the same time as China is flexing its muscles in the region, and propping up North Korea?" wonders Brooks.
While the diplomatic ramifications could be wide ranging, she notes that the market reaction "could be mild, as investors have become adept at pricing in political risk", as shown by the won clawing back earlier losses.
Brooks notes that France is now in focus again, with "crunch day" for Michel Barnier’s government, as the no-confidence vote is expected to take place later.
On US stocks, Brooks says the ADP private sector payrolls report later not have a strong correlation with Friday's all-important non-farm payrolls report.
"As we lead up to the crucial payrolls report, the mid-cap stock market rally in the US has taken second fiddle to the larger blur chip index. The Russell 2000 fell 0.7% on Tuesday.
"We think that this is a sign that risk aversion is creeping in as we lead up to the crucial payrolls report and as fresh geopolitical risks arise in the East."
7.48am: Costain wins £400m HS2 contract
Costain Group PLC (LSE:COST) has won a new seven-year contract for the HS2 rail project that it said will be worth a minimum of £400 million and starting in the first quarter of next year.
This contract has the option for additional contract extensions after the seven-year period.
The construction group will be the sole supplier of tunnel and lineside mechanical and electrical (M&E) systems for HS2, designing, suppling, manufacturing, installating, testing and commissioning the systems during construction.
7.29am: EDF (EPA:EDF) and Centrica (LON:CNA) and EF
British Gas owner Centrica PLC (LSE:CNA), whose shares were up yesterday on no apparent news, says around nine terawatt hours (TWh) will be added to its electricity generation volumes between 2026 and 2030 after the decommissioning of four EDF-run nuclear power stations was pushed back.
The advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) power stations, which EDF runs but Centrica has a 20% stake, have been given lifetime extensions following a review process to see if they could continue providing energy without compromising safety.
Two, Heysham 1 and Hartlepool, have been given one-year extensions to March 2027, with two extra years for Heysham 2 and Torness out to March 2030.
7.16am: FTSE expected to start lower
The FTSE 100 is expected to fall sharply on Wednesday morning, though market worries about Korea seemed to dim overnight, and Wall Street finished higher.
Futures for the London benchmark point to a 36-point decline at the open, after the index gained 46.5 points to close at 8,359.4 yesterday.
US stocks were mixed overnight, with the Nasdaq rising 0.4%, the S&P 500 finishing just above flat and the Dow Jones dropping 0.2%.
Asian markets are also mixed, with India's Sensex, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng all up between 0.1% and 0.2%, but the Shanghai Composite down 0.4%.
Oil prices are creeping higher, with Brent nearing $74 a barrel on news that the US will impose more restrictions on Iranian oil exports and on chatter that OPEC is getting closer to delaying its plans to restore production by another three months.
"The decision announcement is due tomorrow. The short-term risks remain tilted to the upside, but delaying production will only prevent global oil glut from getting worse, but won’t reverse it. As such, once the geopolitical news and OPEC decision are absorbed, the bears will be happy to return to the field," said market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya.
5am: Today's diary
Legal & General's institutional retirement business update will be in focus on Wednesday... Read more
Macroeconomic news will be led by services PMI data for the UK, EU and other major economies in the morning, with the ADP jobs report in the US later, along with factory orders and mortgages.
Announcements due:
Trading updates: Me Group International (LON:MEGPM) PLC, Legal & General Group PLC (LSE:LGEN)
Interims: SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust PLC
Finals: Tritax Eurobox PLC (LON:EBOX), Premier Miton Group PLC, Treatt PLC
US earnings: GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME), Synopsys Inc (NASDAQ:SNPS)
AGMs: Supermarket Income REIT PLC (LON:SUPR), VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity (SO:FTCE11B) Fund Ltd
Economic announcements: PMI Composite (UK), PMI Services (UK), MBA Mortgage Applications (US), PMI Composite (US), Factory Orders (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)