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London open: Equities enjoy pre-Christmas rally as slate of data released
London stocks advanced on Wednesday ahead of a slate of data including the final estimate of third quarter UK gross domestic product.
UK third quarter GDP from the Office for National Statistics at 0930 GMT is expected to show an unrevised annualised 2.3% increase and a quarter-on-quarter rise of 0.5%.
“Since the second release of Q3 GDP, there have been revisions to construction data back to Q1 2014 as a result of method updates,” according to HSBC.
“While this should have little impact on Q3 2015 growth, we expect it to lead to a 0.1pp upward revision to growth Q1 2015 and a 0.1pp downward change to Q2 2014. We also expect a sharp widening in the Q3 current account deficit to 4.7% of GDP (from 3.6% in Q2) as the unusually narrow Q2 trade deficit returns to more normal levels.”
In the US, a report on durable goods orders is due at 1330 GMT with analysts expecting a 0.7% drop in November compared to a 1.3% increase in October.
US personal spending and income figures for November at 1330 GMT are projected to show a 0.3% gain and a 0.2% rise, respectively.
The University of Michigan reveals its final estimate for US consumer confidence in December at 1500 GMT. Economists predict the sentiment index will be revised to 92 from an earlier estimate of 91.8.
Data on US new home sales at 1500 GMT is expected to reveal a 2% increase in November compared to October at 505,000 units.
The raft of economic reports comes ahead of the Christmas holiday, with the market set for a spike ahead of the festive period.
“After apparently taking a nap yesterday afternoon Santa has returned with a vengeance this Wednesday, the markets’ rally resuming as investors gear up for the final splurge of data before Christmas,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.
On the company front, Game Digital plunged after warning adjusted operating profit for the 26 weeks ending 23 January 2016 will be around £30m, down from the same period a year ago following disappointing sales since the start of school Christmas holidays.
Mining stocks were the top risers, including Anglo American, Glencore and Rio Tinto, benefiting from some bargain hunting ahead of Christmas.
Fastjet flew higher after announcing its Tanzanian operation had been given clearance by the Kenyan government to operate flights between Kenya and Tanzania.
Panmure Gordon tumbled after the institutional stockbroker and investment bank said it expects to swing to a full year loss.
Premier Oil edged higher as it said it has completed the disposal of Premier Oil Norge AS to Det norske oljeselskap ASA for a net cash consideration of $120m and as a result, it now expects net debt to be just under $2.3bn (£1.55bn) at year end.
Meanwhile, oil continue on from Tuesday’s gains with Brent crude up 1.06% to $36.49 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up 0.85% to $36.45 per barrel at 0859 GMT.
