Thursday,01 February 2024 08:19:36

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Thursday,01 February 2024 at 08:19

UK & European stocks edged lower at the open as investors mulled the latest policy announcement from the US Federal Reserve and looked ahead to a decision from the Bank of England.

Hong Kong and Korea shares traded higher while Japan equity benchmarks were underperformers in Thursday trade.

Gold climbed for a fourth straight day as investors held onto hopes the Federal Reserve would trim interest rates by a significant margin this year, even after the U.S. central bank pushed back against the idea of a cut in March.

Global oil prices climbed in early trade, supported by signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve on a possible start to rate cuts and as China unveiled new support measures for its embattled property market.

In corporate news, Shell reported a 93% fall in income attributed to shareholders in its fourth quarter, to £474m, as well as a 54% fall for the full year to £19.36bn.

The oil giant put the decline down to higher LNG trading and optimisation margins, favourable deferred tax movements, and higher production, offset by lower refining margins, lower margins from crude and oil products trading and optimisation, and higher operating expenses. Adjusted earnings for the year were 19% weaker at £68.54bn.

Markets

08:15

FTSE 100 7,630 +0.01%

FTSE 250 19,229 (-0.66%)

DAX 16,903 (-0.40%)

the close

Dow Jones 38,150 (-0.82%)

S&P 500 4,845 (-1.61%)

NASDAQ 15,164 (-2.23%)

Fixed Income

UK 10-YR YIELD 3.819

Exchange Rates

GBP/USD 1.264

GBP/EUR 1.172

Commodities

Gold $2,039 +0.03%

Brent $80.29 (-0.43%)

Important - No news or research item should be construed as a recommendation to trade. The inclusion of securities within this report does not necessarily imply their suitability for individual portfolios or situations in respect of which further advice should be sought. Information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable but is not warranted to be accurate or complete.