UK Stock Market Today: Mixed Performance Amid Poor Trade Data

The UK stock markets news today showed poor performance. Both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices closed down due to worse-than-expected trade data from China. In a market like this, those who can find and buy stocks that are undervalued with the help of the intrinsic risk might achieve better results.

Rentokil soared, gaining 7.8% and leading the FTSE 100. This surge followed a report from the former chief of BT Group (LON: BT) that Philip Jansen, backed by private equity, is planning to make an offer for the company.

Wizz Air fell by 10% after an audit report by Irish peer Ryanair revealed they had not met quarterly profit estimates, impacting the midcap index.

Ocado (LON: OCDO) grew 12.2% after the online supermarket and technology group disclosed that Kroger (NYSE: KR), its partner in the United States, requested a set of automated technologies to be provided.

UK Stock Market News Today: FTSE100, FTSE 250

UK stocks fell on Tuesday, with the majority of sectors recording drops, the most remarkable ones being Industrial Metals & Mining, Automobiles & Parts, Chemicals, Gas Water & Multi-utilities, and Tobacco.

The FTSE 100 index dropped by 25.53 points to 8173.25, with miners being the primary cause. Glencore, Anglo-American, and Rio Tinto were all down by over 1%. On the FTSE 250, SThree, a provider of STEM recruitment solutions, soared 14.5p to 432.5p following the announcement that the company would make no change in its guidance despite continuous unsatisfactory periods.

Top Gainers:

Compass (LON: CPG) – Climbed 3.19%  
Beazley (LON: BEZG) – Increased 3.08% 
Smurfit Kappa (LON: SWR) – Rose 2.67%

Top Losers:

Glencore – Dropped 1.80%
Anglo – Dropped 1.50%
DS Smith – Dropped 0.49%

Compass shares are currently at 2264.5p in the FTSE 100 index, with a gain of 73.5 points after the catering company raised the profit outlook for the year.

Cyber insurer Beazley also added 12.5p to 662.5p as it repeated current guidance after a global IT shutdown on Friday.

Why Was FTSE 100 Lower Today?

The FTSE 100 fell on Tuesday, continuing a summer season as inconsistent as the weather.

As the opening bell rings in London, the futures for the blue-chip benchmark are 31 points weaker after following their first day earlier, finishing at 8,198.78 by 43 points.

One of the main culprits of the prospective loss of the FTSE maybe oil prices, as Brent crude oil goes down 0.1% to $82.35 per barrel.

Furthermore, there are mixed signals from the Euro Stoxx 50 and Germany’s DAX, both positive, while France’s CAC 40 is joining the FTSE in the downtrend.

Elsewhere, scores on the Asian markets are also uneven, with Japan’s Nikkei and Singapore’s Southeast Asian benchmark seen to be going up, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong, the Shanghai Composite and Sensex in India were’ all down accordingly.

US stocks ended with a bang last night, led by tech heavyweights the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 which surged by 1.6% and 1.7% each while the S&P 500 rose by 1.1% and the Dow Jones increased by 0.3%.

UK Economy: Avon Protection, Genel Energy, WPP

Avon Protection, with a current price of £12.8, sports a 33.5% discount volatility. It is still undervalued at £19.24 — so this stock is a top pick.

At a price of £0.96, Genel Energy is currently trading way below the calculated fair market value of £1.26, implying that the market is undervaluing the stock by more than 20%. The company is continuing to move forward; however, revenue would rise by 11.8% each year, which is more than the UK market’s average of 3.5%.

WPP is quoting a price of £7.49. Analysts expect WPP’s profits to shoot up by 28.23% annually for the next three years, outperforming the total market’s expected growth of 12.6% based on UK market data.

Condition of European Shares Today

European shares opened sluggishly on Tuesday, with strong earnings from SAP and Logitech boosting technology companies, while declines in metal miners counterbalanced these gains.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (STOXX) was flat at 514.9 points.

Logitech International shares (LOGN.S) went up by 2.3% as the computer mouse maker hiked its full-year sales and profit foresight due to the powerful quarterly earnings performance.

The technology sub-index (SX8P), where these stocks are included, increased by close to 1%.

However, a 1.5% fall in metal miners (SXPP) dragged down the core index, as preliminary growth projections affected China’s consumption demand despite a hike in copper prices.

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