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London’s FTSE 100 endured an underwhelming day on Tuesday, underperforming peers in Europe but faring slightly better than indices in New York.
The blue-chip benchmark’s quest for a new record high suffered a blow on Tuesday, as its four-day win streak was snapped.
Among corporate updates, Ocado spooked the market, while investors cheered a trading statement from Hays.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 9.04 points, or 0.1%, at 7,851.03. Tuesday’s price action put a bit more distance between the FTSE 100 and its best-ever level of 7,903.50 points.
The FTSE 250 ended down 134.29 points, or 0.7%, at 19,948.04, while the AIM All-Share closed down 3.40 points, or 0.4%, at 858.19.
The Cboe UK 100 closed down 0.2% at 785.08, the Cboe UK 250 fell 0.8% at 17,397.65, and the Cboe Small Companies closed down 0.4% at 14,025.88.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed 0.4% higher.
It was a tricky day for the FTSE 100 on Tuesday, and earnings from Goldman Sachs did little to ensure the index perked up in the afternoon.
Goldman Sachs slid 7.0% in New York. It said fourth quarter and 2022 performances were weaker.
The New York-based investment bank said total net revenue in the three months that ended December 31 was $10.59 billion, down from $12.64 billion a year earlier. Pretax earnings more than halved to $1.53 billion from $3.76 billion.
Across all of 2022, total net revenue was $47.37 billion from $59.34 billion a year earlier, while pretax earnings more than halved to $13.49 billion from $27.04 billion.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.1% at the time of the London equities close. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were 0.2% lower. Markets in New York re-opened after a public holiday on Monday.
The pound was quoted at $1.2278 at late on Tuesday in London, higher compared to $1.2203 at the close on Monday.
The euro stood at $1.0804, lower against $1.0822. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥128.18, lower compared to JP¥128.55.
The pound found support after numbers on Tuesday showed the UK unemployment rate was steady at 3.7% in the three months from September to November.
‘The pound is the best performing G10 currency on a 1-day view, with its attempts to gain traction stemming from the relative tightness of the UK labour market and the implication that this may mean higher for longer BoE interest rates,’ analysts at Rabobank commented.
The euro struggled despite European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane telling the Financial Times that interest rates need to keep rising. The yen lost some ground ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy decision due on Wednesday.
In London, Ocado shed 9.3%, the worst FTSE 100 performer. It said its joint venture with high-street retailer Marks & Spencer achieved annual revenue of £2.2 billion, down 3.8%.
This came despite revenue in the 13 weeks to November 27, its financial fourth quarter, rising by 0.3% against the previous year to £549.4 million.
Ocado Retail expects to be close to break-even earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in financial 2022.
Looking ahead to financial 2023, it expects ‘marginally positive’ Ebitda on mid-single-digit percentage revenue growth.
‘Another year, another loss and another trading deficit is on the cards for 2023 from Ocado Retail food delivery joint-venture between Ocado and Marks & Spencer, even if the business‘