the times | Tuesday July 21 2020 1GM 47
MarketsBusiness
Exchange rates
Bank sells Bank buys
Australia $ 1.703 1.959
Canada $ 1.611 1.853
Denmark Kr 7.687 8.768
Euro ¤ 1.047 1.196
Hong Kong $ 9.181 10.439
Hungary 350.235 425.700
Indonesia 16816.400 21082.300
Israel Shk 4.039 4.734
Japan Yen 125.803 145.260
New Zealand $ 1.814 2.144
Norway Kr 10.923 12.637
Poland 4.442 5.421
Russia 80.699 96.911
S Africa Rd 19.624 23.173
Sweden Kr 10.761 12.103
Switzerland Fr 1.115 1.294
Turkey Lira 8.258 9.652
USA $ 1.199 1.366
Rates for banknotes as traded by Royal Bank of
Scotland plc yesterdayDollar rates
Australia 1.4275-1.4279
Canada 1.3538-1.3538
Denmark 6.5107-6.5112
Euro 0.8745-0.8745
Hong Kong 7.7517-7.7522
Japan 107.25-107.26
Malaysia 4.2610-4.2660
Norway 9.2547-9.2594
Singapore 1.3889-1.3892
Sweden 8.9826-8.9862
Switzerland 0.9397-0.9397Other Sterling
Argentina peso 90.642-90.652
Australia dollar 1.8057-1.8059
Bahrain dinar 0.4736-0.4803
Brazil real 6.7583-6.7608
Euro 1.1060-1.1062
Hong Kong dollar 9.8041-9.8054
India rupee 94.575-94.584
Indonesia rupiah 18389-18444
Kuwait dinar KD 0.3877-0.3899
Malaysia ringgit 5.3897-5.3960
New Zealand dollar 1.9265-1.9270
Singapore dollar 1.7568-1.7572
S Africa rand 21.091-21.103
U A E dirham 4.6480-4.6483Money rates %
Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.10 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.00-0.25
Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.74Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.018; 3 mth 0.049. Sell: 1 mth 0.000; 3 mth 0.0001 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth
Interbank Rates 0.0659 0.0884 0.0776 0.1874 0.3293
Clearer CDs 0.80-0.70 0.84-0.74 0.88-0.78 0.97-0.82 1.04-0.89
Depo CDs 0.80-0.70 0.84-0.74 0.88-0.78 0.97-0.82 1.04-0.89
Eurodollar Deps 0.05-0.25 0.06-0.31 0.07-0.32 0.14-0.39 0.27-0.52Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month
Copenhagen 8.1480-8.2445 8.2347-8.2359 45ds 130ds
Euro 1.1072-1.0945 1.1062-1.1060 5pr 14pr
Montreal 1.7006-1.7148 1.7122-1.7123 2pr 4pr
New York 1.2517-1.2657 1.2647-1.2649 2pr 6pr
Oslo 11.613-11.740 11.704-11.711 0pr 7pr
Stockholm 11.293-11.396 11.363-11.366 25ds 72ds
Tokyo 134.34-135.70 135.65-135.67 3ds 10ds
Zurich 1.1759-1.1886 1.1885-1.1886 9ds 26ds
Premium = pr Discount = dsSterling spot and forward rates
London Grain Futures
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)
Nov 166.50 Jan unq Mar unq
May unq Jul unq Volume: 543
London Metal Exchange
(Official)
Cash 3mth Dec 21
Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
6416.5-6416.5 6410.5-6410.5 6402.0-6402.0
Lead ($/tonne)
1805.0-1805.0 1828.0-1828.0 1864.0-1864.0
Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
2171.0-2171.0 2183.0-2183.0 2226.0-2226.0
Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
1621.0-1621.0 1658.0-1658.0 1750.5-1750.5
Nickel ($/tonne)
13162.0-13162.0 13187.0-13187.0 13428.0-13428.0
Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
17400.0-17400.0 17330.0-17330.0 17121.0-17121.0
Gold/Precious
metals (US dollars per ounce)European money
deposits %
Currency
1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth
Dollar
0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55
Sterling
0.07 0.08 0.19 0.33
Euro
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50Bullion: Open $1808.87
Close $1815.36-1815.81 High $1820.23
Low $1805.61
AM $1810.30 PM $1815.65
Krugerrand $1796.00-1893.00 (£1419.92-1496.61)
Platinum $846.00 (£668.85)
Silver $19.73 (£15.60)
Palladium $2080.00 (£1644.45)Data as shown is
for information
purposes only. No offer is made by
Morningstar or this publicationW
almart has
restarted
talks to sell a
stake in Asda, Britain’s
third largest
supermarket chain
(Simon Duke writes).
The giant American
grocery group said that
it had resumed
discussions with
potential investors
after the process was
put on hold as it dealt
with the impact of the
coronavirus pandemic.
“Walmart and Asda
have restarted
conversations with a
small number of third-
party investors who are
interested in acquiring
a stake in Asda and
partnering with
Walmart,” the
American company
said in a statement
yesterday.
The talks come just
over a year after the
competition regulator
dashed Walmart’s
hopes of offloading
Asda through a merger
with Sainsbury’s, its
larger rival. In the
spring Walmart said
that it was in talks with
possible buyers of a
majority stake in the
group. The buyoutheadlines over the weekend. The
more UK-focused FTSE 250 fared
slightly better as it edged 37.92 points,
or 0.2 per cent, up to 17,385.85.
International Airlines Group, the
British Airways owner, was rattled
once again by the continued failure of
the United States to get the virus
under control. It fell 8p, or 3.6 per
cent, to 211p. Other travel and leisure
names were also buffeted. Mitchells
& Butlers, the pubs chain, dripped
9¾p, or 5.9 per cent, lower to 155½p;
SSP, the airport restaurant operator,
fell 12½p, or 5.1 per cent, to 233¼p; and
Tui, the package holiday group, gave
up 13p, or 3.6 per cent, to 350p.
Rightmove, the online property
portal, said that an “unexpected mini-
boom” caused in part by the stamp-
duty holiday had pushed the average
UK asking price to a record high this
month. Bellway shares climbed 67p,
or 2.6 per cent, to £26.86; Berkeley
Group advanced 63p, or 1.4 per cent,
to £44.88; and Barratt Developments
put on 5¾p, or 1.1 per cent, to 547½p.ALAMYActivist believes Superdry
will be back in fashion
Tom Howard Market report
A
notorious activist investor
is betting that the
coronavirus pandemic will
prove to be the kind of
boon that Superdry needs
to get itself back on track.
The hoodies and jackets retailer,
known for its Japanese-inspired logos,
has lost more than 90 per cent of its
value since 2018, which led to Julian
Dunkerton, the company’s founder,
forcing his way back on to the board
last spring. Mr Dunkerton had been
critical of the kind of clothes the
company had been making in his
absence, while also taking umbrage
with what he saw as an addiction to
discounting.
He campaigned to get himself back
on the board and said that he was the
man to revive the brand, but in theyear or so since his return the stock
has continued on its downward path,
not helped by a nightmare Christmas,
when its rivals slashed their prices.
Still, Gatemore Capital, the
American investment group, has faith
in the founder and has built up a
3.4 per cent stake worth about
£3.2 million in Superdry, which it
believes is primed to benefit from the
growing popularity of comfier clothes.
“Superdry has shown strong
resilience despite a challenging
trading environment in recent
months and we are confident the
business is poised to benefit from the
trend towards casualwear, which has
been accelerated by Covid-19,” Liad
Meidar, Gatemore’s managing
director, said. “We are fully supportive
of Julian’s vision for the company,
including returning the brand to its
design-led routes and Superdry’s
strong commitment to sustainability.”
Superdry shares closed up 6¼p, or
5.6 per cent, at 118p.
While Gatemore was taking aim atSuperdry, analysts at Peel Hunt had
Ultra Electronics on their radar. The
defence group, whose equipment is
used in Royal Navy submarines and
RAF Eurofighter Typhoons, will
report its first-half results next week,
when Peel Hunt “fully expects” bosses
to confirm the latest dividend
payment. The analysts pointed out
that the company’s end markets
remained “buoyant”, with defence
budgets both in Britain and America
still “looking healthy”.
The upbeat comments pushed
Ultra up 44p, or 2.1 per cent, to £21.32,
with some of its rivals following in
tow. Meggitt, which makes crash-
resistant fuel tanks for helicopters,
marched 8¼p, or 2.7 per cent, up to
311¾p; Qinetiq, spun out of the
Ministry of Defence in 2002, climbed
8p, or 2.6 per cent, to 316¼p; and BAE
Systems, a defence all-rounder, flew
3¾p, or 0.8 per cent, up to 490p.
The FTSE 100 retreated 28.78
points, or 0.5 per cent, to 6,261.52,
after a rash of alarming coronavirusLondon’s vote of confidence
british stocks & sharesJ
P Morgan has
done away with
its long-held
bearish view of
British stocks.
World markets have
recovered a big chunk
of the losses suffered
in February and
March, when the
coronavirus outbreak
battered share prices.
However, UK equities
rebounded with far
less vigour than in
other regions, making
them “by far” the
worst performers,
according to the
American investment
bank.
That’s nothing new.
According to
JP Morgan, UK
stocks have laggedtheir global peers in
each of the past five
years. This year’s poor
showing stems largely
from the fact that
Britain is seen as a
key dividend play,
boasting big
companies, such as
Shell and BP,renowned for their
shareholder returns
— so, with boards
cutting or cancelling
dividends, London has
been hit hard.
However,
JP Morgan thinks
that “the worst might
be behind us”. It likes
the look of domestic
stocks, such as
housebuilders and
utilities, but remains
wary of banks and
energy stocks. Its
currency analysts
think that the pound
“could soften
somewhat” as Brexit
rumbles on, helping
the FTSE 100, whose
constituents make
most of their money
abroad.JP Morgan thinks that
the UK now looks
worth investing inWall Street report
A near-8 per cent surge by Amazon,
lifted by a huge price target hike by
Goldman Sachs, led the Nasdaq to a
record close, up 263.90 points, or
2.5 per cent, to 10,767.09. The Dow
Jones industrial average eked out an
8.92-point gain to 26,680.87.Company Change
Future Trading at “top end” of market expectations 13.9%
Hochschild Huge mine in Peru returning to full production 7.7%
Weir Stock at a four-month high 3.9%
Equiniti Shares on their best run this year 3.6%
AO World Stock price has now fully recovered from last Tuesday’s battering 3.4%
Cineworld Investors nervous before cinemas reopen next week -4.5%
Trainline Travel and leisure stocks under pressure -4.8%
SSP Coronavirus likely to dent passenger numbers for a while yet -5.1%
First Group Demand recovery for public transport remains uncertain -5.6%
Mitchells & Butlers Pubs’ sales remain well down despite recent reopening -5.9%
The day’s biggest movers
Name Pre-tax figure
Profit (+) loss (-)
DividendSthree (recruitment HY) £12.6m (£24m) nil
6 Results in brief are given for all companies valued at more than £30 million. f = final p = payable
Results in brief
firms Apollo Global
Management, TDR
Capital and Lone Star
Funds were said to be
in the running then.
Walmart, valued
yesterday at more than
$370 billion, is the
world’s largest bricks-
and-mortar retailer. It
has been trying to cut
back its commitments
in Britain for years to
invest in higher-growth
markets, such as India.
In 2018, it bought a
controlling stake for
$16 billion in Flipkart,
an Indian online
marketplace.
Walmart took over
Asda £6.7 billion in- Asda has 639
shops in the UK, 340 of
which are superstores.
Asda is on
sale once
again at
Walmart