Weekly review
By Josh White
Date: Friday 03 Jul 2020
(Sharecast News) - The FTSE 100 ended the week at 6,157.30, which was two points lower than its close last Friday.
Equity view
Commercial property owner Land Securities said it planned to reinstate dividends later this year as tenants reopened premises after the easing of coronavirus lockdowns.
Plastic and fibre product maker Essentra said it expected a 9% fall in interim like-for-like revenue but reported an improving sales trend over the second quarter.
Capital & Regional said on Friday that it has received just over a third of the rent for the third quarter of the year that was due in June and that footfall at its shopping centres was improving.
Shares of CMC Markets surged on Friday after the online trading platform said 2021 net operating income will exceed the upper end of market consensus as client trading activity remains strong.
LondonMetric Property said on Thursday that 95% of advance rental payments due up to 24 June had been collected, or was being collected monthly.
Avon Rubber has signed an agreement to sell its 'Milkrite InterPuls' business to DeLaval Holding, it announced on Thursday, for a cash consideration of £180m on a cash and debt free basis.
Ryanair passenger numbers tumbled in June as the coronavirus pandemic continued to take its toll on the airline industry.
LXi REIT said on Thursday that so far it has received 84% of its rent for the June to September quarter.
Upper Crust owner SSP will reportedly announce plans to cut thousands of jobs on Wednesday as it looks to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Plane maker Airbus has announced plans to slash thousands of jobs as it looks to weather the Covid-19 crisis.
Smith & Nephew said on Wednesday that it expects a second-quarter underlying revenue decline of around 29%.
B&M European Value Retail hailed a "strong" first quarter on Wednesday, with a particularly pleasing performance in the UK.
InterContinental Hotels said revenue per available room (revpar) fell 75% in the second quarter but that the trend was improving and 90% of its hotels were now open.
Cineworld said on Tuesday that it will delay the reopening of its cinemas in the UK and US to the end of July "in line with recent adjustments to the schedule of upcoming movie releases".
Smiths Group said it would cut jobs as part of a plan to reduce costs by £70m as the engineering company reported a slowdown in business because of Covid-19.
FTSE 250 infrastructure group Balfour Beatty said on Tuesday that its joint venture, Gammon Construction, has been awarded a HK$5.67bn (£577m) contract in Hong Kong.
Rio Tinto, Turquoise Hill Resources and the Mongolian government have agreed on a domestic power plan for Oyu Tolgoi that prepares the ground for the government to fund and build a state-owned power plant at the giant copper mine.
Energean said it had agreed to exclude Edison E&P's Norwegian subsidiary from its takeover deal, and cut capital expenditure guidance as oil companies wrestle with a slump in prices amid the coronavirus crisis.
Grainger issued a £350m bond to pay off short-term debt and fund growth as the residential landlord said it was trading strongly.
Indivior has promoted Mark Crossley to the role of chief executive officer, succeeding Shaun Thaxter.
Economic news
UK consumer confidence is improving a little as more businesses prepare to reopen after the coronavirus lockdown but the mood remains fragile, according to a survey released on Friday.
Britons will be able to visit top EU tourist destinations such as Spain, Italy, France and Germany without having to quarantine for two weeks on their return, the government said on Friday.
Oxford University's Covid-19 vaccine candidate has successfully induced the correct type of immune response in clinical trials.
The British government should attempt to kickstart the economy and create jobs using green projects, said the International Monetary Fund's chief economist.
UK house prices fell in June for the first time since 2012 as the coronavirus pandemic took its toll, according to a survey released by Nationwide on Wednesday.
The UK manufacturing sector stabilised in June following a steep downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released on Wednesday.
The UK economy recorded its largest contraction in more than four decades, official figures revealed on Tuesday, as consumers cut spending in the first few days of the coronavirus lockdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has outlined what he dubbed "ambitious" plans to kick-start the UK's recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Britain on Monday said it would sell another £50bn in bonds, taking debt issuance to record levels as the government looked to pay for its coronavirus pandemic response.
Mortgage approvals tumbled to a fresh low in May, figures from the Bank of England showed on Monday, as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to weigh heavily on the UK property sector.
International events
A fire reportedly damaged a building at one of Iran's nuclear facilities on Thursday morning, although authorities tried to downplay the incident.
The Chinese services sector grew at the fastest rate in more than a decade in June, according to data released on Friday.
Lawmakers in the US moved a step closer to retaliating against Beijing's decision to change Hong Kong's security laws to clamp down on dissent.
Twitter has removed an image tweeted by the US President Donald Trump from its platform, following a copyright complaint from the New York Times.
Germany reported a less-than-expected rise in June unemployment as the government's short-time work scheme helped to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The downturn in the eurozone manufacturing sector continued to ease in June, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
Manufacturing and services activity in China expanded in June as the economy continued to recover from the coronavirus fallout, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.
Price pressures in the single currency bloc edged higher last month but nearly half its members remained in deflation.
Economic sentiment in the euro zone continued to recover in June as momentum in May gained pace, according to data released by the European Commission on Monday.
The United Nations' top human rights official Michelle Bachelet asked Israel on Monday to put a stop to its "illegal" plan to annex part of the Palestinian occupied territory in the West Bank.
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