MONITORS

Maitland/AMO Morning Monitor – Thursday 30 December 2021

30th December 2021

In the news

  • Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plea for “cautious” new year celebrations in England is being undermined by shortages of lateral flow and PCR tests.
  • The new owners of Selfridges plan to develop a luxury hotel and serviced apartments as part of a revamp of the brand’s flagship Oxford Street store.
  • The number of new reported Covid-19 cases across the UK jumped to 183,037, although the figures are likely to be inflated by reporting backlogs over the festive period.
  • Temporary Nightingale field hospitals will be reintroduced in England to help with surging hospitalisation cases of Covid-19. The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital beds in England has passed 10,000 for the first time since March.
  • Deutsche Bank has been fined €8.66m by German financial regulator BaFin for failing to implement measures designed to prevent rate-rigging.

Politics today

  • Parliament is in recess until January 5.
  • Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will hold a phone call today to discuss European security.

Stock market moves

  • In the US, stocks traded steady on Wednesday with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 closing at +0.14% and +0.014% respectively.
  • In Asia, Japan’s Topix ended its day by dropping -0.33% while China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed at +0.62%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is currently finishing at +0.077%.
  • In Europe, the FTSE 100 has opened down 0.1%.

Corporate announcements

* Maitland Client

Harbour Energy PLC Dunnottar exploration well result
  • Harbour Energy has completed the drilling of the Dunnottar exploration well in the UK North Sea.
  • The well reached a total measured depth of 15,639 feet (4766.77 metres).
  • Commerciality of these marginal accumulations will be assessed.
Ferrexpo PLC Appointment of Independent Non-executive Director
  • Natalie Polischuk has been appointed as an Independent Non-executive Director to the Board.
  • Polischuk is an economist based in Kyiv, Ukraine, and holds a number of senior roles at private equity funds and directorships in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
  • She spent 7 years as head of Ukraine office at Advent International, served on the Advisory Board of private healthcare clinic network provider Dobrobut, and was a board member and treasurer of Lycée Français Anne de Kyiv.
  • Lucio Genovese, Chair, said: “The appointment of Ms. Polischuk, with her background in finance in Ukraine, is also well timed as we look to pivot towards our latest phase of growth of our business.”