MPC to publish rate verdict but no change seen – London Report
THE MONETARY Policy Committee (MPC) will announce its latest interest rate decision on Thursday, but Investec does not expect any change from the current 0.5 per cent and quantitative easing target at £375bn.
September’s Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) monthly housing data will also be updated on Thursday, after house prices grew at their slowest pace last month.
Investec analyst Victoria Clarke says: “On the activity front, the survey also softened, providing further clues pointing to the housing recovery having moved on to a softer path following the April Mortgage Market Review, the June macro – prudential announcements from the Bank of England and perhaps also following concerns that UK interest rates could rise before long.”
Today, sausages firm Cranswick will publish a an interim management statement for the first six months of the year. There will also be statements from Bankers Petroleum, Waterman Group, PROACTIS Holdings, Carlco, easyJet, Pure Wafer and Sabien Technology Group.
Kicking off tomorrow’s coverage will be digital communications group Next Fifteen Communications’ interim results preview, as the firm has moved its year-end to January. Others to report will be Ferrexpo, the provider of iron ore pellets to the steel industry and St Ives, Robert Walters, Northamber, Quadrise Fuels, Avesco and Coms.
On Wednesday, there will be statements from Goodwin, Marston’s, Hays, Tissue Regenic Group and Ibex Global Solutions.
On Thursday, home shopping business N Brown will release its first-half update after a poor second quarter.
There will also be trading statements from Standard Life UK Smaller Co Trust, Hays, Victrex, John Wood Group and Centamin.
Europa Oil and Gas will release its full-year results on Friday, and Northland Capital Partners is expecting £3.8m revenue in the results, alongside production of 165 barrels of oil per day (bopd), giving adjusted pre-tax profit of £500,000. There will also be statements from XP Power, Vedanta Resources and Jupiter Fund Management.
Closing the week will be August’s trade in goods and services figures and construction output for the same month. Although no serious trend seems to be evident, July’s £10.2 billion deficit in trade in goods was the worst since April 2012. The deficit should arrow to £9.3bn in August, say analysts.