the times | Thursday October 15 2020 2GM 43
MarketsBusiness
Exchange rates
Bank sells Bank buys
Australia $ 1.719 1.977
Canada $ 1.613 1.856
Denmark Kr 7.736 8.824
Egypt n/a n/a
Euro ¤ 1.053 1.204
Hong Kong $ 9.499 10.800
Hungary 359.809 437.338
Indonesia 17478.700 21912.600
Israel Shk 4.119 4.828
Japan Yen 128.296 148.140
New Zealand $ 1.849 2.186
Norway Kr 11.218 12.979
Poland 4.481 5.468
Russia 89.928 107.993
S Africa Rd 20.132 23.772
Sweden Kr 10.833 12.184
Switzerland Fr 1.122 1.301
Turkey Lira 9.876 11.544
USA $ 1.241 1.414
Rates for banknotes and traveller's cheques as
traded by Royal Bank of Scotland plc yesterdayDollar rates
Australia 1.3969-1.3969
Canada 1.3159-1.3159
Denmark 6.3350-6.3355
Euro 0.8511-0.8512
Hong Kong 7.7501-7.7506
Japan 105.12-105.12
Malaysia 4.1480-4.1530
Norway 9.2274-9.2325
Singapore 1.3574-1.3576
Sweden 8.8300-8.8349
Switzerland 0.9130-0.9134Other Sterling
Argentina peso 100.77-100.78
Australia dollar 1.8180-1.8182
Bahrain dinar 0.4874-0.4941
Brazil real 7.2570-7.2610
Euro 1.1077-1.1079
Hong Kong dollar 10.086-10.087
India rupee 95.407-95.444
Indonesia rupiah 19082-19137
Kuwait dinar KD 0.3971-0.3993
Malaysia ringgit 5.4028-5.4093
New Zealand dollar 1.9556-1.9560
Singapore dollar 1.7667-1.7671
S Africa rand 21.520-21.533
U A E dirham 4.7839-4.7842Money rates %
Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.10 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.00-0.25Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.74Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.000; 3 mth -0.020. Sell: 1 mth -0.010; 3 mth -0.0 301 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth
Interbank Rates 0.0429 0.0571 0.0464 0.0809 0.1439
Eurodollar Deps 0.06-0.26 0.07-0.27 0.08-0.28 0.11-0.31 0.19-0.39Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month
Copenhagen 8.1620-8.2629 8.2448-8.2460 49ds 149ds
Euro 1.1111-1.0967 1.1079-1.1078 5pr 15pr
Montreal 1.6908-1.7158 1.7125-1.7128 1pr 4pr
New York 1.2865-1.3061 1.3015-1.3016 2pr 8pr
Oslo 11.903-12.013 12.012-12.016 19pr 67pr
Stockholm 11.350-11.504 11.482-11.492 22ds 69ds
Tokyo 135.68-137.30 136.80-136.82 3ds 11ds
Zurich 1.1770-1.1916 1.1883-1.1885 9ds 28ds
Premium = pr Discount = dsSterling spot and forward rates
London Grain Futures
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)
Nov 181.00 Jan unq Mar unq
May unq Jul unq Volume: 585
London Metal Exchange
(Official)
Cash 3mth Dec 21
Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
6702.0-6702.0 6715.5-6715.5 6743.5-6743.5
Lead ($/tonne)
1771.5-1771.5 1789.5-1789.5 1829.0-1829.0
Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
2398.0-2398.0 2416.5-2416.5 2457.0-2457.0
Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
1836.0-1836.0 1853.5-1853.5 1905.5-1905.5
Nickel ($/tonne)
15105.0-15105.0 15152.0-15152.0 15336.0-15336.0
Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
18225.0-18225.0 18285.0-18285.0 18154.0-18154.0
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
0.04 0.05 0.08 0.14
Euro
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50Bullion: Open $1893.02
Close $1900.10-1902.10 High $1912.33
Low $1882.90
AM $1920.80 PM $1891.30
Krugerrand $1881.00-1983.00 (£1445.12-
1523.49)
Platinum $863.43 (£663.35)
Silver $24.24 (£18.63)
Palladium $2343.00 (£1800.06)Data as shown is
for information
purposes only. No offer is made by
Morningstar or this publicationA
London-based
investment firm
is preparing tolaunch a $100 million
medical cannabis fund
to try to capitalise on
the “once-in-a-lifetime”
opportunity presented
by legalisation in key
markets (Callum Jones
writes). Chrystal
Capital Partners plans
to have Verdite —
Europe’s largest
marijuana-focused
private equity fund —
running by the end of
the year.
Verdite intends to
invest in between ten
and fifteen “well-
managed, fast-growing”
businesses operating
within legal and
regulated cannabis and
cannabinoid markets,
looking at the
pharmaceuticals and
health industries.
Chrystal Capital
estimated that onlywhich it believes are “extremely
cheap”. Its enthusiasm stems from the
government propping up operators
until demand picks up, while its
analysts “do not see a risk of business
failures”, given that all companies in
the sector are still throwing off cash.
There were upgrades for
Stagecoach and Go-Ahead, which
joined National Express on HSBC’s
“buy” list. Falling out of that exclusive
club was First Group, Britain’s largest
train operator, which is the analysts’
least-preferred stock in the sector
after its recent rally. First Group
shares fell 4½p, or 8.7 per cent, to
48½p, while Stagecoach gained 1p, or
2.4 per cent, to 38p. Go-Ahead, which
runs one in four London buses, was
also boosted by HSBC’s bullish turn as
it rose 13½p, or 2.4 per cent, to 565p.
Touchstone Exploration flowed
higher after it found more gas than
expected in its latest well in Trinidad
and Tobago. The shares gained
another 23p, or 26.1 per cent, to reach
a fresh record high of 110p.AFP/GETTY IMAGESBusy car salesmen put ITV
back in the shop window
Tom Howard Market report
H
opes that the advertising
market is recovering from
the Covid-19 outbreak
that set it back over the
spring and summer sent
shares in ITV rising again towards the
four-month highs they struck last
week.
The broadcaster fell out of the
FTSE 100 last month having lost
more than half its market value
during the pandemic. Businesses that
normally would spend millions
promoting their goods and services
tightened their belts with the nation
in lockdown.
However, analysts at UBS reckon
that, in the ad world at least, things
are nearly back to normal. They
estimated that ITV’s advertising
revenue for the third quarter wasdown 8 per cent year-on-year,
significantly better than the 15 per
cent drop they had forecast
previously. Looking ahead, the
analysts expected advertising income
to be down only 3 per cent compared
with the final three months of 2019.
ITV suffered a 43 per cent plunge
in advertising revenue in the second
quarter of this year. The recent pick-
up has been driven by car retailers
trying to clear their forecourts, UBS
said, while big government awareness
campaigns and healthy spending from
supermarkets also had helped.
As a result of the autumn
improvement, UBS thinks that ITV’s
advertising revenue will fall by about
13 per cent this year, an improvement
on the 15 per cent drop it had
pencilled in before. That may not
sound like a lot, but the analysts have
upped their profit estimates by nearly
10 per cent for this year. ITV shares
rose 2¼p, or 3.1 per cent, to 75½p.
The FTSE 100 rose in early trading
as the big listed companies got a liftfrom sterling’s weakness. However,
the pound was sparked back into life
by reports that Boris Johnson will not
walk away from Brexit talks. Sterling’s
sudden reversal prompted a similar
response from the Footsie, which
closed 34.65 points, or 0.6 per cent,
down at 5,935.06. A tier below, the
more UK-biased FTSE 250 bounced
back from its first loss of the month
on Tuesday to finish 59.40 points, or
0.3 per cent, higher at 17,950.41.
Investors tucked into Domino’s
Pizza ahead of the pizza delivery
group’s third-quarter update today,
encouraged by a bumper update from
Just Eat Takeaway.com, the online
takeaway marketplace. Analysts at
Peel Hunt expect Domino’s like-for-
like sales to have “picked up” as
people turn to takeaways over
restaurants. The stock rose 4½p, or
1.2 per cent, to 372p, within a whisker
of the two-year highs it reached last
week.
HSBC did its best to rev up some
interest in rail and bus companies,NHS support gets shot in arm
technology
A
n IT company
that provides
digital services
to the NHS grabbed
investors’ attention
yesterday after it said
that revenue and
profit forecasts were
ahead of previous
expectations (Tom
Ball writes).
Shares in Kainos
Group, which
streamlines digital
operations, jumped by
more than a quarter
on the FTSE 250,
closing up 318p, or
31.2 per cent, at
£13.38. The Belfast-
based group said that
customer demand had
been high since the
end of March, adding
that it now expectedrevenue for the year
that ended on
March 31, 2021, to be
“materially ahead” of
consensus forecasts.
Last month NHS
Digital awarded
Kainos a contract
worth £7 million to
provide supportservices for
Covid-19 testing.
Kainos was not the
only hospitals-focused
group on the front
foot. Amid surging
demand for latex
products, such as
gloves, Synthomer
upgraded its full-year
earnings guidance and
reinstated its interim
dividend. In an update
for the three months
to the end of
September, the
chemicals group said
that it expected 2020
adjusted earnings of
£232 million, 10 per
cent higher than it
had said in August. Its
shares rose 55½p,
16.6 per cent, to
388½p.Kainos Group provides
digital streamlining to
institutions like the NHSWall Street report
Hopes of a deal to agree another
fiscal stimulus fell, and sent indices
lower, after Steven Mnuchin, the
Treasury secretary, dampened
expectations. The Dow Jones
industrial average fell 165.81 points,
or 0.6 per cent, to 28,514.00.Company Change
Kainos Profits to be “materially ahead” of forecasts 31.2%
Synthomer Lifts annual guidance and reinstates dividend 16.7%
Ashmore Assets under management better than City expected 7.7%
Just Eat Takeaway Order growth accelerated in third quarter 6.4%
Just Group Tailwind from post-lockdown rise in UK house prices 5.0%
Cineworld Still reeling from Disney’s decision to focus on streaming -4.4%
Standard Chartered Banking sector performs weakly -4.5%
Greggs Continues to slip back from six-week highs -4.5%
Capita Extends recent slide -5.4%
First Group HSBC does away with its “buy” recommendation -8.7%
The day’s biggest movers
Name Pre-tax figure
Profit (+) loss (-)
Dividend
Angling Direct (retail HY) £1.4m (£0.4m) nil
ASA International (finance HY) -$1.5m ($34.5m) nil
Randall & Quilter (finance HY) £0.6m (£33.1m) nil
Walker Greenback (consumer HY) -£0.9m (£3.5m) nil
6 Results in brief are given for all companies valued at more than £30 million. f = final p = payable
Results in brief
$15 billion of the
$350 billion global
cannabis market was
legal and regulated.
“An industry of this size
coming out of
prohibition is a once-
in-a-lifetime investment
opportunity,” it
claimed.
An initial $100
million is “planned for
the end of 2020”, the
investment company
said, with $75 million
committed by a
cornerstone investor,
subject to “final
documentation”.High hopes
for $100m
medical fund