London open: Stocks reverse early dip, gain at quarter's end

Stocks are moving higher at the end of the third quarter, having recovered from a brief dip at the start of trading, in the aftermath of the no holds barred televised debate overnight between the contenders to the White House, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

"The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden turned out to be rather messy, with the two candidates interrupting and verbally attacking each other with considerable vehemence," analysts at UniCredit said.

Against that backdrop, as of 0842 BST, the FTSE 100 was rising 0.26% or 15.46 points to 5,913.32, alongside a 0.05% or 8.68 point gain for the FTSE 250 to 17,181.38.

In parallel, futures tracking the US S&P 500 were off by 16.25 points to 3,317.5.

Also overnight, China's official factory sector Purchasing Managers' Index printed at 51.5 for September, against 51.0 in August.

A separate PMI for private sector manufacturing companies however dipped from 53.1 to 53.0, whereas the consensus had been for no change.

Commenting on those PMIs, analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "Encouragingly, though, the demand picture is the sturdiest it has been for a while, with the new export orders rising above 50 for the first time since the end of China’s lockdown.

"Nevertheless, it looks as though much of this month’s production went straight into inventories."

On home shores, mortgage lender Nationwide reported a 0.9% month-on-month increase in UK home prices which took the annual rate of gains to 5.0% - the highest since September 2016.

And the Office for National Statistics bumped up its estimate for second quarter UK GDP growth from -20.4% to -19.8%.

Lloyds Bank's business barometre improved for a fourth straight month in September, printing at -11, up from -14 in the month before.

To take note of, after the close of trading in New York, a leading medical journal published positive results for an early stage clinical trial into biotechnology outfit, Moderna's, Covid-19 vaccine.

For later in the session, US consultancy ADP's monthly private sector payrolls report is due for release at 1415 BST.

European Central Bank chief, Christine Lagarde and ECB chief economist, Philip Lane, are also due to deliver speeches.

No tears at Boohoo, William Hill says 'yes'

Online fashion retailer Boohoo appeared to successfully navigate the media furore over the allegedly sub-standard working conditions at one of its suppliers, posting sharp increases in sales and profits for the half. The firm also guided higher for full-year sales growth. Revenues over the six months ending on 31 August printed at £816.5m, up 45% on the comparable year earlier figure and in-line with the previous quarter's gain. That drove a 51% jump in profits before tax to £68.1m.

William Hill agreed to be taken over by Caesars Entertainment in a £2.9bn deal that would see the enlarged group cash in on the rapidly expanding US sports betting market. "The William Hill board believes this is the best option for William Hill at an attractive price for shareholders," said William Hill chairman Roger Devlin.

Royal Dutch Shell said it was cutting 7,000 - 9,000 jobs globally as it responded to the global slump in oil prices and looked to reposition itself as a green energy provider. They would be implemented by 2022 and included 1,500 people who were taking voluntary redundancy, the company said in a trading update on Wednesday. "We have had to act quickly and decisively and make some very tough financial decisions to ensure we remained resilient, including cutting the dividend. But as hard as they were, they were entirely the appropriate choices to make," said chief executive Ben van Beurden.

Food services group Compass reported an improvement in fourth quarter revenues as schools reopened after the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, but warned a winter outbreak could hamper the pace of recovery. The company on Wednesday said full year revenues would be 19% lower year on year, after a 36% decline in the final three months of the fiscal year, compared to a 44% slump in the third quarter.

UK defence electronics and countermeasures specialist Chemring's US subsidiary, CCM, has secured a $49.9m five-year so-called indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract from the US Navy for MJU-32/38 infrared decoy flares. A first batch of the flares worth $11.3m was to be delivered in financial years 2021 and 2022, with all the associated work to be carried out at the firm's facility at Toone, Tennessee. CCM was also awarded a $33.6m delivery order by the US Air Force for MJU-53/B countermeasures under the terms of a separate three-year $90m IDIQ contract signed in September 2019 with delivery by CCM also scheduled for 2021 and 2022.