The Times - UK (2022-02-03)

the times | Thursday February 3 2022 45

MarketsBusiness

Exchange rates

Bid Change

Australia $ 1.904 +0.01

Canada $ 1.721 +0.01

Denmark Kr 8.933

Euro ¤ 1.201

Hong Kong $ 10.572 +0.04

Hungary 425.593 -1.51

Indonesia 19476.776 +49.52

Israel Shk 4.303 +0.02

Japan Yen 155.183 +0.14

New Zealand $ 2.044

Norway Kr 11.942 -0.01

Poland 5.465 -0.03

Russia 103.499 -0.05

S Africa Rd 20.842 +0.24

Sweden Kr 12.481 -0.05

Switzerland Fr 1.247

Turkey Lira 18.383 +0.29

USA $ 1.357 +0.01

Rates supplied by Morningstar

Dollar rates

Australia 1.4019-1.4020

Canada 1.2685-1.2686

Denmark 6.5772-6.5782

Euro 0.8841-0.8843

Hong Kong 7.7944-7.7949

Japan 114.30-114.31

Malaysia 4.1840-4.1870

Norway 8.8000-8.8020

Singapore 1.3470-1.3471

Sweden 9.1959-9.1984

Switzerland 0.9178-0.9182

Other Sterling

Argentina peso 142.81-142.81

Australia dollar 1.9028-1.9029

Bahrain dinar 0.5081-0.5153

Brazil real 7.1858-7.1898

Euro 1.2001-1.2007

Hong Kong dollar 10.579-10.582

India rupee 101.42-101.52

Indonesia rupiah 19498-19501

Kuwait dinar KD 0.4093-0.4117

Malaysia ringgit 5.6753-5.6793

New Zealand dollar 2.0458-2.0462

Singapore dollar 1.8282-1.8285

S Africa rand 20.848-20.859

U A E dirham 4.9817-4.9819

Money rates %

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

Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.59

Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.184; 3 mth 0.316. Sell: 1 mth 0.100; 3 mth 0.200

1 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth

Interbank Rates 0.4540 0.0000 0.6446 0.9979 0.0000

Eurodollar Deps 0.04-024 0.18-0.38 0.19-0.39 0.41-0.61 0.82-1.02

Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month

Copenhagen 8.9069-8.9341 8.9254-8.9310 72ds 253ds

Euro 1.2012-1.1976 1.2003-1.2002 6pr 23pr

Montreal 1.7140-1.7230 1.7217-1.7219 3ds 5ds

New York 1.3515-1.3584 1.3573-1.3574 3ds 7ds

Oslo 11.885-11.964 11.943-11.949 29pr 127pr

Stockholm 12.439-12.523 12.482-12.485 57ds 208ds

Tokyo 154.81-155.28 155.13-155.16 7ds 27ds

Zurich 1.2448-1.2476 1.2456-1.2462 12ds 40ds

Premium = pr Discount = ds

Sterling spot and forward rates

Gold/Precious

London Grain Futures metals (US dollars per ounce)
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)

Mar 215.00 May 215.00 Jul unq
Nov 196.50 Jan unq Volume: 688

London Metal Exchange
(Official)

Cash 3mth Dec 22

Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
9875.0-9880.0 9840.0-9845.0 9530.0-9540.0

Lead ($/tonne)
2245.0-2247.0 2239.0-2241.0 2140.0-2145.0

Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3648.0-3650.0 3631.0-3633.0 3208.0-3213.0

Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3042.5-3043.0 3026.0-3028.0 2823.0-2828.0

Nickel ($/tonne)
23375.0-23400.0 22745.0-22755.0 21540.0-21590.0

Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
43745.0-43750.0 43250.0-43300.0 41820.0-41870.0

European money

deposits %

Currency

1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth

Dollar

0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55

Sterling

0.45 0.64 1.00 0.81

Euro

0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50

Data as shown is

for information

purposes only. No offer is made by

Morningstar or this publication

Because of a technical issue, the gold fix

prices are from Tuesday.

Bullion: Open $1800.49

Close $1809.31-1809.76 High $1810.53

Low $1794.74

AM $1806.50 PM $1799.85

Krugerrand $1790.00-1887.00 (£1318.73-1390.19)

Platinum $1049.00 (£772.82)

Silver $22.77 (£16.77)

Palladium $2396.00 (£1765.18)

I

t’s unmistakable
chopper-style
motorcycles already
have a loyal and long-
established army of
fans and now Harley-
Davidson plans to cash
in more on its name on
clothing and other
accessories, appointing
two senior executives
to head its newly
created apparel and
licensing division.
Jochen Zeitz,
chairman and chief
executive of the
manufacturer, said
yesterday that Erica
Bullard would become
senior vice-president of

the new unit, which

replaces its general

merchandising

division, while the

British-born Louise

Goldin, below, has

been appointed

creative director.

Bullard joins Harley-

Davidson from Nike,

the sportswear

brand, having

worked for

more than 20

years in senior

roles and

business units

across the

company.

Goldin will

head new

studio and

design

teams

in New

York and

Milwaukee.

Zeitz

expected to be lower than last year’s

level as a decade-long drought in

Chile continues to affect operations.

The shares closed down 77½p, or

5.7 per cent, at £12.84.

Molten Ventures jumped after the

venture capital firm reiterated that it

expected the value of its portfolio to

rise by about 35 per cent over the 12

months to March. The group

formerly known as Draper Esprit,

which focuses on young private

European technology companies, has

invested £259 million in the year to

date. The shares added 27p, or 3.4 per

cent, to 811p.

Audioboom, the podcasting

platform, extended its rally, closing up

60p, or 3.5 per cent, at £18 amid

chatter that it is being eyed by a

potential suitor. Some in the City

reckon the company, which counts

Nick Candy as one of its largest

shareholders, could be a beneficiary

of the woes of Spotify, which has

come under fire for allowing

vaccination “misinformation”.

HARLEY DAVIDSON

Ocado’s latest robots have

convinced Credit Suisse

Jessica Newman Market report

F

or the past couple of years,

Tim Steiner has been trying

to convince the City that

Ocado is not simply a food

retailer but a technology

company. Yesterday it looked like he

had finally swayed the market as one

bullish broker’s comment propelled

the stock to the top of the FTSE 100

index.

Credit Suisse decided to do away

with its “underperform” rating, a

week after the online grocer said it

had made “one of the most significant

steps forward in technology in

Ocado’s history”, with lighter robots

boasting automated arms that could

pick groceries directly from storage

grids and new kit that could be

retrofitted into existing warehouses.

Steiner, Ocado’s chief executive and

co-founder, said the development of

robot pickers meant that groceries

could now be plucked straight from

the warehouse grids using machine

vision and artificial intelligence.

In turn, the Swiss bank said that it

had “greater confidence” about

Ocado’s relationships with its

partnerships as it put an “outperform”

rating on the shares, as well as lifting

its price target on them to £17.50. The

analysts argued that the fact the

shares had halved over the past 12

months meant further price turmoil

was “limited”. Ocado closed up 81½p,

or 5.7 per cent, at £15.13.

Any fears around the Bank of

England raising interest rates today

were overshadowed by stellar action

on Wall Street. The FTSE 100,

London’s senior index, rose 47.22

points, or 0.6 per cent, to 7,583, while

the FTSE 250, the more UK-biased

second tier, added another 81.46

points, or 0.4 per cent, to 22,249.40.

Bumper results from Alphabet,

Google’s parent company, and hopes

of more to come from the likes of

Meta Platforms, formerly known as

Facebook, drove up UK-listed,

technology-focused stocks, including

Experian, which gained 64p, or 2 per

cent, to close at £32 and Bytes

Technology, up by 22½p, or 4.8 per

cent, at 488p.

Auto Trader, Britain’s biggest

motor website, rose 16½p, or 2.4 per

cent, to 692p as Jefferies analysts

tipped the shares as a “buy”.

Barratt Developments extended its

rally for a fourth straight session,

rising 16p, or 2.6 per cent, to 629½p.

The housebuilder has gathered

momentum since it announced its

£250 million acquisition of Gladman

Developments this week.

One of the more underwhelming

performers was Antofagasta after

UBS trimmed its price target on the

Chilean copper miner’s shares from

£14 to £13.50. The reduced price

comes off the back of last month’s

weak production update, when said

that copper production for 2022 was

No addition yet from Opec+

natural resources

T

he Opec+

alliance of oil-

producing

nations has stuck to

its plans to pump only

an extra 400,000

barrels per day next

month, despite

soaring prices (Emily

Gosden writes).

The decision

yesterday meant that

Brent crude, the

global benchmark

price, rose by more

than 1 per cent to

touch $90.52 a barrel,

before retreating

44 cents to $88.62 last

night.

Opec+, which

includes the Saudi

Arabia-led Opec

cartel and other big

producers, such as

Russia, struck a deal

to curb supplies by

ten million barrels per

day — or a tenth of

global demand —

after the pandemic

led to a collapse in

demand in 2020. They

have been gradually

lifting production, but

are still withholding

about three million

barrels per day from

the market,

exacerbated by

planned production

increases falling

behind amid supply

disruption.

Oil prices hit to a

seven-year high in

recent weeks after

Omicron proved to

have less of an impact

than feared and

because of fears over

a potential Russian

invasion of Ukraine.

Bjornar Tonhaugen,

head of oil markets at

Rystad Energy, said:

“Opec+ supply growth

is key to delivering on

second-quarter

market expectations.”

Oil prices have risen as

the global economy

recovers from Covid

Wall Street report

Indices rose for a fourth session as

investors preferred to look at strong

earnings reports led by technology

companies rather than poor jobs

data in the private sector. The Dow

Jones industrial average rose 224.09

points, or 0.6 per cent, to 35,625.33.

Company Change
Ocado Double upgrade from Credit Suisse 5.7%
Discoverie Recovers some previous losses 4.9%
Bytes Technology Swept up in wider technology sector rally 4.8%
Future Bounces as technology-related stocks rally 3.8%
Tate & Lyle Investors move in after recent share price weakness 3.7%
Network International Holdings Positive sentiment evaporates -3.8%
ContourGlobal Loses momentum after recent run higher -4.0%
Energean Exposed to drop in oil prices -4.0%
Harbour Energy Investors nervous after executive director leaves -5.5%
Antofagasta UBS trims price target -5.7%

The day’s biggest movers

said: “As one of the

most iconic brands in

the world, the

potential to grow our

overall apparel and

licensing business is

significant.”

Founded in 1903,

Harley-Davidson is

recognised worldwide

for its distinctive bikes,

or “hogs”. The

company, based in

Milwaukee,

Wisconsin, has a

market value of

$5.6 billion.

Shares in

Harley-

Davidson,

which is

listed in

New York,

rose 45

cents, or

1.2 per

cent, to

$36.37.

Harley plans

to hog our

attention