Yahoo Finance FTSE 100 called to open lower after yesterday’s boost from bumper set of divi and buyback updates
‘Super Thursday’ yesterday saw a flurry of firms put out updates, many of which showed growth, optimism ahead, and a host of them announced share buybacks and dividend news.
The top flight rose 61.79 points, or 0.9%, to 7078.42.
Danni Hewson, AJ Bell financial analyst, said “no one would begrudge investors” for heading home to pop open a bottle of fizz yesterday. Hewson said: “A bumper crop of earnings bolstered by news of some hefty dividend pay outs and nothing too challenging emerging from across the Atlantic.”
Today CMC Markets traders expected the FTSE 100 to open 39 points lower.
There is not expected to be such a rush of results out this morning as there was on Thursday.
Companies on London’s blue-chip index due to publish updates on Friday include learning firm Pearson, NatWest Group, British Airways owner IAG, and Rightmove.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “At the moment markets in Europe look set to see a slightly lower open, after another Asia session that has seen stocks slide sharply, despite reports yesterday that suggested Chinese regulators were softening their positioning on regulation, over concerns about the extent of the recent sell-off.”
He added: “If that was the intention of the softening of position it doesn’t appear to be working. The reality is that the recent crackdown by China has let the genie out of the bottle, and confidence appears to have shifted.”
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