(Alliance News) - Stocks opened in the red in London on Tuesday morning, as Shell won in a Dutch court.
In the UK two environmental groups are set to have their legal challenge against the Rosebank and Jackdaw offshore oil and gas fields. Jackdaw is owned by Shell and Rosebank is majority-owned by Equinor with Ithaca Energy holding 20%.
Meanwhile in The Hague, Dutch judges ruled Tuesday against an appeal by climate groups who said oil titan Shell was not doing enough to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, striking down a landmark judgement three years ago
Elsewhere, Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya predicted: "The German and the Eurozone economic sentiment indicators are due this morning and are somehow expected to print a slight improvement in November, but a slight improvement per se won't be enough to lift mood in Europe while Trump’s tariff threat is taking a toll."
In other corporate news, AstraZeneca has upgraded its full-year revenue guidance and announced a multi-billion dollar investment into US research and manufacturing.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: opened 0.5% lower at 8,083.16
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Hang Seng: down 3.1% at 19,794.63
Nikkei 225: down 0.4% at 39,376.09
S&P/ASX 200: down 0.1% at 8,255.60
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DJIA: closed up 304.14 points, up 0.7%, to 44,293.13
S&P 500: closed up 0.1% at 6,001.35
Nasdaq Composite: closed up 0.1% at 19,298.76
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EUR: down at USD1.0634 (USD1.0654)
GBP: down at USD1.2815 (USD1.2875)
USD: flat at JPY153.80 (JPY153.81)
Gold: down at USD2,601.70 per ounce (USD2,617.20)
(Brent): up at USD71.86 a barrel (USD71.76)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS
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Tuesday's key economic events still to come:
11:00 CET eurozone ZEW economic sentiment survey
15:00 CET eurozone European Central Bank executive board member Piero Cipollone speaks
11:00 CET Germany ZEW economic sentiment survey
14:45 CET Germany current account
09:00 GMT UK Bank of England Chief Economist and Executive Director Huw Pill speaks
11:00 EST US consumer inflation expectations
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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed putting Ukraine in the "strongest possible position going into winter" as they met amid uncertainty over the future of US backing for Kyiv. The two leaders held talks in Paris to mark Armistice Day and consider how best to continue supporting the wartorn country. It comes amid suggestions that the UK and France could seek to persuade Biden to grant Ukraine permission to use Storm Shadow missiles to strike into Russia before he leaves the White House.
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US President-elect Donald Trump announced new members of his incoming administration, and was expected to pick Florida Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state. His choices for his new White House team are the subject of intense speculation and scrutiny, with Trump vowing that his second stint in power will result in a radical shake-up of the federal government. For foreign policy, the New York Times said he was set to tap Rubio, while fellow Florida congressman Michael Waltz has been lined up for the powerful National Security Advisor role. New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik got the nod for UN ambassador, while US media also said Stephen Miller, the author of Trump's so-called "Muslim ban" immigration policy during his first term, was set to be his deputy chief of staff. In a further announcement, Trump's transition team said Lee Zeldin would be proposed as Environmental Protection Agency chief with a mandate to slash climate and pollution regulations that are considered red tape by businesses. Top nominations would need approval by the Senate, but Trump is hoping to bypass oversight from the upper chamber by making appointments while it is in recess.
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Dozens of world leaders convene in Azerbaijan on Tuesday for Cop29 but many big names are skipping the UN climate talks where the impact of Donald Trump's election victory is keenly felt. More than 75 leaders are expected in Baku over two days but the heads of some of the most powerful and polluting economies are not attending this year's summit. Just a handful of leaders from the G20 – which accounts for nearly 80% of planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions – are expected in Baku, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
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The presidents of the US, China and other Asia Pacific nations gather in Lima this week for an economic summit overshadowed by the prospect of a world embroiled in trade wars under Trump. It will be the last Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit for Joe Biden before he hands the presidency to Trump next year after a rout for the Democratic Party in November 5 presidential elections. Biden will be in the Peruvian capital later this week with China's Xi Jinping, who had called for the two countries to find ways to "get along" after Trump's victory. It is not known if the men will meet for private talks, nor has any envoy from Trump's Republican Party been confirmed to attend the summit.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Barclays raises Antofagasta to 'equal weight' - price target 2,000 pence
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Jefferies cuts Direct Line Insurance to 'hold' (buy) - price target 165 (235) pence
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RBC raises Metro Bank price target to 55 (50) pence - 'sector perform'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Dutch judges ruled Tuesday against an appeal by climate groups who said oil titan Shell was not doing enough to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, striking down a landmark judgement three years ago. "The court's final judgement is that Milieudefensie's claims cannot be granted. The Appeals Court is therefore quashing the original judgement," judge Carla Joustra told the Hague Appeals Court. Dutch environmental organisations had sued Shell over carbon dioxide emissions and were granted a favourable ruling in 2021. The civil court in The Hague ruled on the appeal, with Shell holding the position that the Paris Climate Agreement imposes no obligation on companies to reduce pollutants. The company asserted that it should be for governments, not courts, to mandate such actions. Additionally, Shell argued that a company cannot be legally held responsible for the carbon dioxide emissions of its customers. Also on Tuesday, two environmental groups are set to have their legal challenge against the Rosebank and Jackdaw offshore oil and gas fields in the North Sea heard in court. Greenpeace UK and Uplift will argue the impact of emissions from burning the oil and gas extracted from the fields were illegally ignored when they were approved in the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Jackdaw is owned by Shell via BG International Ltd. Rosebank is 80%-owned by Equinor, with Ithaca Energy owning 20%.
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For its third quarter, AstraZeneca reports that revenue has jumped to USD13.57 billion from USD11.49 billion the prior year. Pretax profit increased to USD1.83 billion from USD1.65 billion. Over nine months, Astra said pretax profit rose on-year to USD7.03 billion from USD6.00 billion, while revenue surged to USD39.18 billion from USD33.79 billion. It said this revenue growth was driven by increase in product sales. Consequently, Astra has upgraded its full-year revenue and core earnings per share guidance to predict high-teens percentage growth, having previously forecast a mid-teens rate. The firm also announced a USD3.5 billion capital investment into research & development and manufacturing in the US, which it calls the first step towards its target of gaining USD80 billion in revenue by 2030.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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3i Infrastructure has declared a first-half dividend of 6.33 pence per share, up from 5.95p the year before. Its net asset value per share has risen to 374.7p at September 30, up on-year from 362.3p. The NAV total return however was 5.1% compared to last year's 6.3%. 3i said it is on track to deliver its target return for financial 2025, noting its strategically positioned portfolio companies.
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Raspberry Pi announced the signing of a strategic partnership with Italian company Seco. It said Seco will offer a human-machine interface solution based on Raspberry Pi's CM5 product. "The partnership will explore medium-term opportunities in other industrial areas, including image recognition, edge AI, leveraging Seco's long history and know-how in sectors including ENERGY management, smart building, healthcare, coffee and vending and industrial automation," the company said. "Both Seco and Raspberry Pi are committed to working together to drive growth, efficiency, and innovation in the embedded and industrial markets."
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Facilities by ADF, which provides production facilities for the UK film and television industry, said in a trading update that its sales pipeline for the latter part of 2024 began to increase in line with expectations during the third quarter as the effect of US strikes "slowly began to recede" and despite "prevailing uncertainty" among customers sparked by the UK Budget and US election. "However...it is now clear that a significant number of the productions that ADF had in its sales pipeline for [the second half year] will have start dates pushed out into [2025], and some will not proceed at all," ADF said. It therefore now expects to report full-year revenue of approximately GBP35 million and adjusted Ebitda between GBP7.3 million and GBP8.0 million, in line with 2023 levels. It also expects "approximately breakeven" net income. Still, ADF's sales pipeline for next year promises to be "significant" having been "steadily building" over summer, especially including this year's delays.
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By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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