Yahoo Finance FTSE 100 shares rise as Aviva announces redundancies
The FTSE100 moved 0.55% higher on Thursday after shares in Aviva rose following the announcement of cost cutting measures.
Aviva (AV.L) climbed nearly 2% after the group said it would cut costs of £300m ($360m) by 2022 and announced 1,800 redundancies.
Maurice Tulloch, chief executive officer of Aviva, said: “Today is the first step in our plan to make Aviva simpler, more competitive and more commercial.
“But there are also clear opportunities to improve. Reducing Aviva’s costs is essential to remain competitive and this means tough decisions and job losses which I do not take lightly.”
ECB Rate Decision
The market was also awaiting the decision of the European Central Bank (GBPEUR=X) today.
David Madden, market analysis at CMC Markets said: “Dealers are expecting the refinancing rate and the deposit rate to hold steady at 0.0% and -0.4% respectively.
“The press conference that follows at 1.30pm (UK time) will be the main event, and in light of the sizeable drop off in inflation, traders will be expecting more details about the new targeted lending scheme that is planned to begin in September.”
Renault shares slump
Share in Renault (RNO.PA) slumped by 6% on the European markets as Fiat-Chrysler withdraws merger offer.
In a statement Fiat said: “It has become clear that there are currently no conditions in French policies for such a merger to proceed successfully.”
Trump fails to reach agreement with Mexico
The market was also digesting news that President Donald Trump is no closer to reaching a deal with Mexico after talks broke down. If no deal is reached by Monday Trump said tariffs of 5% would begin.
Talks are expected to resume on Thursday, although Trump said in a tweet “the higher the tariffs go, the higher the number of companies will move back to the USA!”
