Market Report 11 January 2010

Market Indices

The first full week’s trading of the New Year continued the trend seen over the past six months or so as all four of the key indices posted a rise.

The FTSE100 had begun the week at 5,412.88 and rose 2.24% to finally close the week out at 5,534.24.  Over in the US, the story was much the same with the DOW gaining 1.82% to finish the week up at 10,618.19 having opened at 10,428.05. 

The story continued over in Asia. The Nikkei 225 had begun the week at 10,546.44 and posted a rise of 2.39% to close up at 10,798.32, whilst the Hang Seng finished the week up at 22,296.75 a rise of 1.94% having opened at 21,872.5.
 

The Week Ahead – 11 January 2010

Tuesday

Tesco trading statement
Next week’s trading statement should give us a clue about just how much consumers spent on food and other essentials over Christmas. The recent cold snap may also boost sales as consumers look to stock up on winter essentials. As the first food retailer to release figures in 2010, Tesco will be setting the pace for others to follow.

Thursday

First Group interim results
Strikes have been hitting First Group in its rail division; we expect the full impact of the strikes to be divulged in next week’s interim figures. Earlier indications have suggested that profits will be significantly down. There are no plans to benefit from National Express’ woes at the moment, but this could change. We feel that First Group is still one of the better managed in the sector.

Associated British Foods trading statement
ABF has traditionally been a safe and secure investment. As such, it is unlikely to cause much excitement, but that’s what a lot of investors are looking for at the moment. There have been sales during the year of non-core operations and profit figures are expected to be up in 2010. Next week’s trading update will hopefully reassure analysts and investors of these facts.

Home Retail trading statement
Marks & Spencer showed signs of growth when they released trading figures a few weeks ago and we expect Home Retail, the owner of Homebase and Argos to do the same. The Group’s previous quarter’s figures showed signs of growth and we fully expect the Q3 figures to do the same.

Friday

Experian trading statement
Throughout 2009 Experian’s share price went upwards and continued selective acquisitions have helped maintain this momentum. 2010 will be an important year and next week’s trading statement will give a good indication of how well the integration of Experian’s new purchases is going. We also expect to hear some news on the company’s prospects for the year; we feel positive that Experian will be able to maintain reasonable growth levels.


This data is provided by Andy Parsons, Advice team manager at The Share Centre. This is not intended to constitute an offer or agreement to buy or sell investments.

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2010-01-12 11:40:36 © Moneyextra.com