FTSE lower on RBS, NMC and AstraZeneca

FTSE lower on RBS, NMC and AstraZeneca

Negative company news is dragging down the FTSE whilst the Chinese virus outbreak is showing signs of containment.

Royal Bank of Scotland lost 5.4% in early trading after the bulk state-owned banking group reported an increased profit for the fourth quarter but reduced its medium-term returns target. Shares within the embattled health operator NMC Health also dropped after the vice chair Khalifa Butti Omeir Bin Yousef resigned from his position, only days after the company’s co-founder B.R. Shetty left the board after admitting to potentially inaccurately reporting his holdings within the company. AstraZeneca also took successful in its share price having reported a drop by core operating profits and missing expectations.

Brent crude steadies as Russia decision expected

The slide in Brent crude prices has stopped for the instant and costs seem to possess stabilised just above the $56/bbl mark because of the slowdown of the spread of the coronavirus in China. an outsized a part of China’s industrial production has come on line in the week or is thanks to restart over subsequent three days after several weeks of closures. OPEC and Russia have yet to return to some agreement over whether the extended producer group will increase its existing production cuts to counter the decline in oil prices. Russia is dragging its feet and even a gathering between the country’s energy minister and main oil producers has not yielded a solution to OPEC’s proposal to reign in production by another 600,000bbl/d. WTI is additionally marginally higher, trading on the brink of $51.50.

The pound perked up overnight at the prospect of upper government spending under the new Chancellor of the Exchequer but has since given up about 0.1% against the dollar, settling just above the $1.3 mark.