The Times - UK (2020-12-02)

the times | Wednesday December 2 2020 2GM 49

MarketsBusiness

Exchange rates

Bank sells Bank buys

Australia $ 1.720 1.978

Canada $ 1.637 1.883

Denmark Kr 7.781 8.909

Egypt n/a n/a

Euro ¤ 1.064 1.216

Hong Kong $ 9.789 11.130

Hungary 361.810 439.769

Indonesia 17286.100 21671.200

Israel Shk 4.140 4.853

Japan Yen 130.528 150.716

New Zealand $ 1.797 2.125

Norway Kr 11.042 12.774

Poland 4.509 5.503

Russia 91.306 109.647

S Africa Rd 19.264 22.748

Sweden Kr 10.767 12.110

Switzerland Fr 1.144 1.328

Turkey Lira 10.030 11.724

USA $ 1.279 1.457

Rates for banknotes as traded by Royal Bank of

Scotland plc yesterday

Dollar rates

Australia 1.3586-1.3587

Canada 1.2947-1.2947

Denmark 6.1775-6.1780

Euro 0.8301-0.8302

Hong Kong 7.7518-7.7523

Japan 104.36-104.36

Malaysia 4.0730-4.0750

Norway 8.8205-8.8230

Singapore 1.3380-1.3382

Sweden 8.5009-8.5039

Switzerland 0.9002-0.9003

Other Sterling

Argentina peso 109.22-109.23

Australia dollar 1.8230-1.8232

Bahrain dinar 0.5023-0.5090

Brazil real 7.0454-7.0494

Euro 1.1138-1.1139

Hong Kong dollar 10.401-10.402

India rupee 98.611-98.629

Indonesia rupiah 18584-19097

Kuwait dinar KD 0.4077-0.4099

Malaysia ringgit 5.4430-5.4456

New Zealand dollar 1.9000-1.9005

Singapore dollar 1.7953-1.7957

S Africa rand 20.484-20.497

U A E dirham 4.9200-4.9203

Money rates %

Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.10 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.00-0.25

Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.74

Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth -0.005; 3 mth -0.110. Sell: 1 mth -0.060; 3 mth -0. 180

1 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth

Interbank Rates 0.0389 0.0478 0.0446 0.0644 0.1294

Eurodollar Deps 0.06-0.26 0.07-0.27 0.08-0.28 0.11-0.31 0.18-0.38

Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month

Copenhagen 8.2656-8.3330 8.2886-8.2898 40ds 125ds

Euro 1.1197-1.1104 1.1140-1.1139 5pr 14pr

Montreal 1.7274-1.7405 1.7370-1.7373 6pr 7pr

New York 1.3319-1.3438 1.3418-1.3418 8pr 12pr

Oslo 11.792-11.866 11.834-11.838 37pr 73pr

Stockholm 11.350-11.453 11.406-11.410 37ds 92ds

Tokyo 138.99-140.22 140.01-140.04 4ds 10ds

Zurich 1.2037-1.2149 1.2077-1.2080 10ds 27ds

Premium = pr Discount = ds

Sterling spot and forward rates

London Grain Futures
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)
Jan 192.00 Mar unq May 191.50
Jul 196.00 Nov 158.25 Volume: 1115

London Metal Exchange

(Official)

Cash 3mth Dec 21

Copper Gde A ($/tonne)

7644.0-7644.0 7649.0-7649.0 7633.0-7633.0

Lead ($/tonne)

2065.0-2065.0 2073.5-2073.5 2106.0-2106.0

Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)

2768.5-2768.5 2787.5-2787.5 2807.0-2807.0

Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)

2045.5-2045.5 2052.5-2052.5 2069.5-2069.5

Nickel ($/tonne)

16102.0-16102.0 16150.0-16150.0 16269.0-16269.0

Tin ($/tonne) 15mth

18873.0-18873.0 18850.0-18850.0 18621.0-18621.0

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 0.04 0.06 0.13

Euro

0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50

Bullion: Open $1778.60

Close $1812.59-1813.05 High $1814.55

Low $1776.69

AM $1799.09 PM $1808.13

Krugerrand $1893.00-1990.00 (£1410.76-

1483.05)

Platinum $1004.56 (£748.65)

Silver $23.94 (£17.84)

Palladium $2436.00 (£1815.43)

Data as shown is

for information

purposes only. No offer is made by

Morningstar or this publication

F

acebook is to

launch a news

channel for its

British users after

cutting deals with

publishers to license

their articles (Simon

Duke writes). The

service will be

launched next month.

The American

company, co-founded

by Mark Zuckerberg,

36, will present a news

tab offering stories

from a range of

mainstream providers.

The articles will be

picked and arranged by

a third party but

personalised according

to users’ perceived

interests by Facebook’s

algorithms.

Publishers will

receive cash under

licensing deals and

Facebook said that

they also could enjoy a

Hochschild Mining, which digs for

gold in Peru, improved 17¼p, or 8.1 per

cent, to 229¾p and the Egypt-focused

Centamin gained 6½p, or 5.7 per cent,

to 119¾p.

Among the laggards were the

lockdown winners as investors sold

out of the pandemic’s outperformers

to fund bets on those that should

benefit from a return to normal next

year. Hikma, whose generic

anaesthetics and sedatives have been

in high demand, slipped 127p, 4.9 per

cent, to £24.81. Domino’s Pizza gave

up 7¾p, or 2.4 per cent, to 312p.

Deutsche Bank told investors to

pour into Diageo, the group behind

Smirnoff vodka and Gordon’s gin, as it

prefers the longer-term outlook for

spirits rather than beers. The analysts

also like Diageo’s exposure to the

United States, where spirits have

chipped into beer’s market dominance

during the pandemic. The shares

improved 46½p, or 1.6 per cent, to

£29.27 — almost a tenner shy of

Deutsche’s £39 target.

MATTHIAS OESTERLE/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES

Home is where heart is as

hopes rise for Brexit deal

Tom Howard Market report

D

omestic shares have been

tipped to “break out” over

the weeks ahead as talk of

a Brexit deal grows ever

louder. Companies that do

the bulk of their business in Britain

have been shunned for much of the

past four years as investors have

avoided the uncertainty surrounding

the UK’s divorce from the European

Union.

However, the tables might be about

to turn, according to analysts at

Liberum, who are forecasting a “last-

minute deal” to be thrashed out by

negotiators, followed by years of

additional negotiations.

“With Brexit negotiations moving

into their final stretch, we note that

UK domestic earners are about to

break out from their relative

downtrend versus international

earners,” Joachim Klement, an equity

strategist at the City stockbroker, said.

Goldman Sachs also thinks that a

“thin” trade deal will be struck and it

has started telling clients that Britain

is a “buy”.

“The UK market remains

comparatively cheap,” Goldman’s

Sharon Bell noted. “An economic

recovery in 2021, combined with a

trade deal with the EU before the end

of this year, would, in our view,

catalyse a catch-up for UK stocks.”

Goldman also thinks that the

recent rotation into hard-hit value

stocks will continue, while its

commodities analysts see metals and

oil prices rallying.

Those UK-focused stocks that have

the most to gain from a Brexit deal

were among yesterday’s standout

performers amid chatter that an

agreement might be reached as early

as this week. Builders put on decent

gains as Nationwide confirmed that

house prices are continuing to soar.

Taylor Wimpey shares improved 12p,

or 7.9 per cent, to 166p and Vistry,

formerly known as Bovis, added 64p,

or 7.7 per cent, to 892p.

Banking shares were strong as the

value rotation that paved the way for

November’s spectacular gains

resumed after Monday’s blip. A pick-

up in bond yields, which bodes well

for banks’ profits, also helped. Virgin

Money zipped 15¼p, or 12.1 per cent,

up to 141¾p, while Lloyds rose 2¾p, or

7.5 per cent, to 38¼p.

Hopes of a Brexit boosted sterling,

with the pound closing above $1.34

for the first time since June 2018.

Trading elsewhere was similarly

buoyant, with the FTSE 100 tacking

on 118.54 points, or 1.9 per cent, to

6,384.73. The FTSE 250 leapt 508.49

points, or 2.6 per cent, to 19,844.81 as

it got an extra bump from the Brexit

optimism.

Despite sentiment among City

traders being firmly “risk-on”, gold

and silver prices pared recent losses,

which boosted London’s miners.

Time to love you and leave you

support services

‘T

is better to

have loved and

lost than never

to have loved at all,”

according to

Tennyson. Homeserve

investors might have

to adopt a similar

outlook as the

Checkatrade owner

looks set to relinquish

its FTSE 100 status

only six months after

its promotion.

The company made

its way into the stock

market’s elite index in

June’s reshuffle, but

since its debut its

shares have fallen by

18 per cent, compared

with a small rise in

the Footsie’s overall

value. The stock’s

defensive nature

appealed during the

early stages of the

pandemic, but this

has diminished as

investors have

adjusted their

portfolios ahead of

what they expect to

be a bumper 2021.

Homeserve is now

valued at about

£3.56 billion and has

fallen to 116th in the

list of London’s listed

companies. Any

Footsie constituent

that falls outside of

the top 110 is

automatically

relegated to the

FTSE 250 at the next

quarterly reshuffle, on

December 21.

Replacing

Homeserve will be

Pershing Square, the

investment group run

by Bill Ackman, the

American hedge fund

billionaire. Its share

price has risen by

75 per cent this year,

taking its value to

£5 billion, good

enough for 92nd spot.

Shares in Bill Ackman’s

Pershing Group are up

by 75 per cent this year

Wall Street report

Progress in Covid vaccines and the

Chinese economy sent the S&P 500

(up 40.82 points, or 1.1 per cent, to

3,662.45) and Nasdaq (up 156.37,

1.3 per cent, to 12,355.11) to records as

the Dow Jones industrial average

rose 185.28, 0.6 per cent, to 29,823.92.

Company Change

Virgin Money Banks boosted by Brexit optimism 12.1%
Mitchells & Butlers “Value” rotation resumes 9.0%

IWG Snaps four-day losing streak 8.9%
Cineworld Investors position for a 2021 rebound 8.9%

Capita Recovers after last week’s sell-off 8.5%
Unilever Investors sell out of “lockdown winners” -3.0%

Helios Towers Falls to six-month low -3.7%

Avast Profit-taking -4.5%
Hikma Healthcare sector weakness -4.9%

Aveva Hits lowest price since June -6.2%

The day’s biggest movers

Name Pre-tax figure

Profit (+) loss (-)

Dividend

Custodian Reit (property HY) -£16.1m (£0.7m) nil

Gooch & Housego (engineering FY) £5.4m (£6m) nil

Iomart (technology HY) £6m (£8.4m) 2.6p p Jan 29
OPG Power Ventures (utilities HY) £12.8m (£9.7m) nil

Sosandar (retail HY) -£1.1m (£-2.8m) nil

Tekmar (technology HY) -£0.3m (£0.8m) nil
6 Results in brief are given for all companies valued at more than £30 million. f = final p = payable

Results in brief

boost in traffic to their

websites. Publishers

and publications that

have signed up include

The Economist, the

Evening Standard,

Guardian Media Group

and Reach, which owns

the Mirror newspaper.

Facebook would not

say how much money

it would pay them. The

company launched a

similar service in the

US a year ago and is in

“negotiations” with

publishers in France

and Germany.

Publishers

are big news

at Facebook