Stock indices of Western European countries are changing weakly and in different directions on Thursday, as market participants took a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the results of the September meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB).
The composite index of the largest companies in the Stoxx Europe 600 region increased by 0.05% by 11:28 Moscow time and amounted to 412.24 points.
The German DAX fell 0.06%, the French CAC 40 rose 0.1%, and the British FTSE 100 rose 0.25%. The Italian FTSE MIB and the Spanish IBEX 35 lost 0.3% and 0.45% respectively.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to raise key interest rates following the results of the September meeting immediately by 75 basis points (bp). The results of the meeting will be announced at 15:15 Moscow time on Thursday.
Hawkish statements from board members and a sharper-than-expected rise in inflation support such a substantial increase,” said Guprit Gill, Goldman’s global fixed income strategist.
Shares of British cybersecurity developer Darktrace plunge 31%. Darktrace reported a return to pre-tax profits in fiscal 2022 and almost doubled its revenue, but confirmed that negotiations with investment company Thoma Bravo on a possible sale of the company were terminated.
Melrose Industries PLC is down 2.3%. The British engineering company increased its pre-tax loss in the last financial half to 358 million pounds from 275 million pounds a year earlier.
Restaurant Group PLC shares rose 2.1%. The British company significantly reduced its pre-tax loss in January-June on the back of strong revenue growth.
Capitalization of the retailer Associated British Foods PLC falls by 7.1%. The company forecast sales growth for the fiscal year ending September 17 to be around 40%, but warned that adjusted earnings could shrink in the next fiscal year.
The market value of Finnish paper maker Stora Enso rose 2.8%. The company announced the purchase of the Dutch manufacturer of cardboard packaging De Jong Packaging Group for 1.02 billion euros.
French retailer Carrefour and bank Societe Generale are up 2% and 1.4% respectively.
The growth leader in the Stoxx 600 index is the paper of the British Genus Plc, working in the field of genetic breeding of animals – they rise in price by more than 13% on data on revenue growth in the past fiscal year.
The decline leaders in the indicator are the shares of the French IT company Atos SE, falling almost 15% for no apparent reason.
The dollar is weakly strengthening against major world currencies on Thursday morning, investors are waiting for the results of the September meeting of the European Central Bank and evaluate the statements of members of the leadership of the Federal Reserve System.
The ICE-calculated index, which shows the dynamics of the US dollar against six currencies (the euro, the Swiss franc, the yen, the Canadian dollar, the pound sterling and the Swedish krona), is down 0.1%, the broader WSJ Dollar Index is up 0.1%.
The euro / dollar at 8:56 Moscow time is trading at $0.9996 compared to $1.0008 at the close of the previous session, the euro is losing about 0.1%.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to raise key interest rates following the results of the September meeting immediately by 75 basis points (bp). The ECB has only once raised its base rate so sharply – a few days after the launch of the euro in 1999, but then it was a short-term technical adjustment, the Financial Times notes. The results of the meeting will be announced at 15:15 Moscow time on Thursday.
“There are no doves left in the ECB, only moderate and radical hawks,” said Katarina Utermeul, chief economist for European markets at Allianz SE.
The exchange rate of the American currency against the yen rose by 0.15% to 144.04 yen.
The yen has been the main casualty of the dollar’s recent rally as the Japanese currency is particularly sensitive to rising US long-term government bond yields, Investing.com writes.
“Any attempts to return to the 140 yen/$1 level have been short-lived, and in recent days the pair hit 144 yen/$1 for the first time since 1998,” wrote OANDA Senior Analyst Craig Erlam. to the dollar.”
The yen is under pressure from more hawkish comments from the Fed. Thus, the vice-president of the US Central Bank, Leil Brainard, said the day before that the Fed would have to raise the base interest rate to levels at which there would be a slowdown in economic activity.
PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) at its coke chemical division in January-July this year reduced production of metallurgical coke by 59.4% compared to the same period last year, to 696,700 tonnes.
A representative of the company told Interfax-Ukraine that in July the company produced 43,500 tonnes of metallurgical coke.
At the same time, in January-July 2022, production of 6% moisture gross coke at the plant amounted to 800,000 tonnes, including 51,000 tonnes in July.
Coke production at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih over seven months of 2021 increased by 11.9%, to 1.716 million tonnes, including 257,000 tonnes in July last year.
In January-July 2022, the company received 216,000 tonnes of domestic coal, 390,000 tonnes from Russia (before the war), 65,000 tonnes from Kazakhstan, 27,000 tonnes from Poland, 15,000 tonnes from the Czech Republic, 190,000 tonnes from the USA and 126,000 tonnes from Australia. In July, the plant delivered 68,000 tonnes of domestic coal, 32,000 tonnes from the United States, and 4,300 tonnes from Australia.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in production of long products, in particular rebar and wire rod.
Foreign trade turnover by the most important positions in Jan-May 2022 (export)
SSC of Ukraine
The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) authorized five outbound vessels loaded with food on Thursday within the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the UN has reported.
“JCC authorized the movement of five ships carrying a total of 83,241 tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the UN said.
The UN reported that vessels Jasmin Queen (9,531 tonnes of corn), Captain Adam 1 (9,300 tonnes of wheat) and Filyoz (4,410 tonnes of sunflower oil) will go to Turkey. The Kiran America ship will head to China with 50,000 tonnes of barley and corn, while the Santana ship will deliver 10,000 tonnes of wheat to Italy.
In addition, vessel Dignity (8,200 tonnes of sunflower seeds) previously postponed the departure from the port of Chornomorsk to Thursday, September 8. It is planned that it will go to Turkey.
“As of September 7, the total tonnage of grain and foodstuffs exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 2.335 million tonnes. In total, the movement of 211 ships has been authorized at the moment – 111 inbound and 100 outbound,” the UN said.
In Istanbul on July 22, with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny.
Black Sea Grain Initiative, CHINA, ITALY, SHIPS, TURKEY, Ukrainian food
