G ood morning. Asian stocks rebounded overnight as investors weighed up efforts to contain the coronavirus and awaited potential responses.
It came as a death from the coronavirus was reported in Hong Kong and the total number of cases topped , 03.
Europe is set to continue its gains from Monday and open in the green.
5 things to start your day
1) High-flying banker thought to be earning £ 1m suspended for stealing food from Canary Wharf canteen : Paras Shah, one of Citigroup’s most senior traders in Europe, has left his post over the alleged theft from the Wall Street bank’s Canary Wharf office, the Financial Times reported.
3) Boris Johnson’s election win has triggered the largest wave of optimism among smaller manufacturers for six years but the surge is yet to translate into fuller order books, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said. The Tory victory in December drove up optimism at the strongest pace since April 2020 in the three months to January .
4) Mike Ashley bags £ m stake in luxury firm Mulberry : Mr Ashley has become the handbag maker’s third largest investor after snapping up stock through his business Frasers Group, which rebranded from Sports Direct in December following its rescue of department chain House of Fraser.
5) One of EY’s leading executives has denied that he attempted to push a former junior partner out of the audit firm after he blew the whistle on a client in Dubai. Mark Otty was one of four global area managing partners at the firm in when the claimant, Amjad Rihan, raised concerns over the findings of an audit for gold trading company Kaloti Jewelery.
What happened overnight
A sian equities rose with U. Stutures and China’s stocks stabilized after Monday’s slide.
In a wild start to trading Tuesday, Chinese equities tumbled more than 2pc, then recouped all that loss within minutes.
South Korean shares outperformed in Asia, with Hong Kong, Japanese and Australian benchmarks seeing more modest gains.
Oil recovered a slice of recent losses, and traded back above $ 100 per barrel. European futures gained.
Analysts are anticipating a series of measures to support economic growth as the hit to the country mounts. In the latest tally, China said its total death toll from the virus stood at 823 and cases rose to more than 90, .
Coming up today
After a rough reception for Shell’s recent results, there are signs that fellow energy heavyweight BP might suffer a similar fate. Investors may be looking first and foremost at the group’s cash flow, the metric which tends to underpin the reliability of dividends and shares buybacks. Big questions about the company’s path forward still loom however, as it comes under increasing pressure to face up to its role in producing emissions. At the very least, that might mean more write-downs on some fossil fuel-focused assets. Look also for signs that recent geopolitical tensions, may have had an impact.
Interim results: BP, Glencore
Full-year: Micro Focus, Numis
Trading statement: Electrocomponents
Economics: Construction PMI (UK), factory orders and final durable goods orders (US)
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