Pound volatile as Westminster power struggle goes to the courts
|It should be an exciting day in the markets today. Yesterday the Scottish Court of Session ruled the proroguing of Parliament was illegal, a decision that gave the pound a brief boost, sending it up past 1.234 to the USD. However this still has to go to the Supreme Court and the government will be hoping to see it thrown out.
The realization seems to be sinking in with the currency market this morning, with sterling now dropping back past 1.233 in early selling.
All eyes on today's ECB meeting
Barring any further dramatic news from Westminster, the big news today will be the European Central Bank meeting where Marion Draghi is widely expected to announce a series of loosening measures. Current Eurozone inflation is well below the 2% level and with the Eurozone economy, including Germany, now seen to be struggling. The EUR is currently looking range bound ahead the Draghi press conference.
Shares in HKEX fall on back of bid for LSE
Shares in HKEX, owner of the Hong Kong Stock and London Metals Exchange (LME) were heavily sold by investors following its proposed GBP 32 billion bid for the London Stock Exchange. Big investors in HKEX said they were mystified by the move. There is some speculation that it has been prompted by Beijing in a bid to diversify HKEX further away from Hong Kong, which has been suffering financially due to several weeks of civil unrest.
It currently seems unlikely the bid will be accepted, for a range of reasons, not least the fact that the LSE is still in the process of trying to acquire Refinitiv, a deal that awaits shareholder approval. HKEX is still up on where it was a month ago, trading at 237.6. The Hang Seng was marginally down on the day.
Morrisons leads FTSE stocks on Amazon Prime announcement
WM Morrison is leading the FTSE this morning, up more than 3% on the back of its announcement of a multi-year partnership with Amazon Prime. The supermarket chain reported flat sales over the six months to the start of August. The FTSE is marginally up 0.25%.
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