FTSE 100 index: Banks get some welcome relief from Visa cash – London Report
The first trading day of November saw the FTSE 100 close flat as the news that Visa Europe is to be bought by US company Visa helped rally banking stocks.
The FTSE 100 ended yesterday’s session flat, up just 0.01 per cent at 6,362 points.
However, HSBC, which reported a jump in pre-tax profit to $6.1bn (£3.95bn) for the third quarter, from $4.6bn during the same period last year, outstripping analysts’ expectations, saw its London listed share price fall 0.71 per cent.
Barclays’ share price meanwhile jumped 1.98 per cent, bouncing on the back of the Visa deal, after last week reporting adjusted pre-tax profits to have fallen, missing expectations.
Lloyds Bank closed 1.7 per cent up and Royal Bank of Scotland ended the day 1.79 per cent up.
Barclays, one of several UK banks that are members and shareholders in Visa Europe, said it was expecting to make £400m post-tax profit from the initial pay-out.
Lloyds estimated it would report a pre-tax gain of £300m from the upfront cash consideration, and Nationwide said it would receive “one per cent of the total proceeds payable at such time”.
“Bank stocks were atop an otherwise lacklustre FTSE 100 on news they will receive a windfall from their stake in Visa Europe which is to be bought by Visa US. UK banks including Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays own Visa Europe as do multiple lenders across Europe,” Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets said.
“The windfall from Visa’s sale is a welcome change from regulatory fines,” Lawler added.
Recently fears of a slowdown have been hampering mining stocks. Antofagasta, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto finished the day down 1.04 per cent, 0.42 per cent, 1.35 per cent and 1.63 per cent down respectively.
Glencore, however, finished the session 2.67 per cent up.
Airline Ryanair saw shares jump 1.97 per cent after reporting profits are soaring, as the low-cost airline expects full-year profits to reach the upper end of a range which was recently adjusted upwards.
Meanwhile, the pound jumped against the dollar, after UK manufacturing reached a 16-month high in October, recording its best month since June 2014, according to Markit PMI.