LONDON MARKET EARLY CALL: Stocks To Ease After Moderna Vaccine Rally

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London on Tuesday are set pull back a touch from the previous ...

Alliance News 17 November, 2020 | 6:57AM
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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London on Tuesday are set pull back a touch from the previous session's strong gains, which were driven by Moderna's promising Covid-19 vaccine results.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 11.19 points, or 0.2%, lower at 6,410.10 on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 closed up 104.90 points, or 1.7%, at 6,421.29 on Monday.

"As we look to today's European open, and today's price action in Asia, which saw the Nikkei 225 post fresh 29-year highs, we could see a slightly softer open as some of the froth gets blow on off some of yesterday's gains," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

European stocks surged on Monday after US biotech firm Moderna released early results from a clinical trial with more than 30,000 participants, showing its vaccine was 94.5% effective. This came a week after fellow US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said their vaccine has proved 90% effective.

In Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is flat.

In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 1.6%, the S&P 500 up 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.8%.

"Yesterday's move higher was slightly more restrained then the turbo charged move just over a week ago, largely down to the fact that the Moderna news wasn't as big a surprise as last weeks' Pfizer announcement, the results of which more or less came as a bolt from the blue," said CMC's Hewson.

He did note, however: "The fact remains that for all the optimism over multiple vaccine candidates, none of them will be available to offset the problems currently being faced right now, as we head into a long dark winter of trying to keep a lid on the problems being faced in keeping the virus under control, until the weather warms up next year."

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock was unable to rule out an extension to the lockdown as a health chief warned the tiered system that ministers want England to return to may have to be strengthened.

Hancock said it was "too early for us to know" whether coronavirus cases will be brought down sufficiently to ease the second shutdown on December 2.

Boris Johnson hopes the nation will return to local restrictions, but Public Health England's Susan Hopkins – standing alongside Hancock at the Downing Street press conference on Monday – said the lowest tier of earlier measures had had "little effect".

Sterling was quoted at USD1.3213 early Tuesday, higher than USD1.3186 at the London equities close on Monday.

The UK prime minister has been urged to negotiate an adjustment period into any final trade agreement with the EU to provide "breathing space" of up to six months for businesses.

The post-Brexit trade talks have entered into a decisive week, with cabinet ministers among those signalling that the discussions have entered into last chance saloon territory.

With Thursday touted as the latest deadline for negotiations, the Liberal Democrats and a leading business figure have joined forces to press the UK prime minister to effectively extend the transition period to give businesses more time to adjust to any new regulations.

The euro traded at USD1.1857 early Tuesday in London, higher than USD1.1840 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar softened to JPY104.51 versus JPY104.57.

Gold was quoted at USD1,886.60 an ounce early Tuesday, lower than USD1,889.70 on Monday. Brent oil was trading at USD44.21 a barrel, soft on USD44.40 late Monday in London.

The economic events calendar on Tuesday has eurozone construction output at 1000 GMT and US retail sales at 1330 GMT.

The UK corporate calendar on Tuesday has annual results from tobacco firm Imperial Brands and budget airline easyJet. There are also interim results from credit checking agency Experian, home emergency cover provider Homeserve, and asset manager Ninety One.

By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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