FTSE Slumps as Scottish Independence Campaign Gains in Polls, Alibaba IPO Draws Near
September 8, 2014 7:59 am
The FTSE is down by almost 0.5% this morning, weighted down by Scottish companies feeling the impact of a weekend poll showing the ‘Yes’ campaign in Scotland’s Independence referendum leading for the first time. RBS, Lloyds and Standard Life were all down by over 2%, with the future plans of these Scottish-based companies in jeopardy should the Yes campaign triumph over the ‘Better Together’ campaign. Sterling is also down across the board this morning, with GBP currently at 1:1.6156 against USD and 1:1.2480 against the Euro, with serious questions mooted as to the feasibility of an independent Scotland keeping the pound. The referendum is due to take place in 10 days time, on Thursday 18th September.
Further news has emerged regarding the Alibaba IPO due to take place later this month, with Friday’s regulatory filing by the firm indicating an intent to price shares between $60 and $66, which could bring in between $22.1 and $24.3 billion, should all underwriters claim their shares. As well as making that the biggest IPO in history, it would value the firm at between $148 billion and $163 billion. One company set to rake in the rewards is Yahoo; it currently owns 22.4% of the company and according to the filing will be selling off around a quarter of that in the IPO. After a shaky few days last week Yahoo stock continued its upward trend on Friday, closing up 1.02% at 39.59 – the firm is currently up by 3.06% in pre-market trading.
Brent Crude is below $100 a barrel for the first time in over a year as Chinese demands slows further, with August purchases falling by 2.4% after a 1.6% fall in July. Recent price decline in the commodity has also been attributed to, amongst other things, recently downgraded tension regarding potential supply interference from Iraq, Libya and Syria.
The FTSE is down by almost 0.5% this morning, weighted down by Scottish companies feeling the impact of a weekend poll showing the ‘Yes’ campaign in Scotland’s Independence referendum leading for the first time. RBS, Lloyds and Standard Life were all down by over 2%, with the future plans of these Scottish-based companies in jeopardy should the Yes campaign triumph over the ‘Better Together’ campaign. Sterling is also down across the board this morning, with GBP currently at 1:1.6156 against USD and 1:1.2480 against the Euro, with serious questions mooted as to the feasibility of an independent Scotland keeping the pound. The referendum is due to take place in 10 days time, on Thursday 18th September.
Further news has emerged regarding the Alibaba IPO due to take place later this month, with Friday’s regulatory filing by the firm indicating an intent to price shares between $60 and $66, which could bring in between $22.1 and $24.3 billion, should all underwriters claim their shares. As well as making that the biggest IPO in history, it would value the firm at between $148 billion and $163 billion. One company set to rake in the rewards is Yahoo; it currently owns 22.4% of the company and according to the filing will be selling off around a quarter of that in the IPO. After a shaky few days last week Yahoo stock continued its upward trend on Friday, closing up 1.02% at 39.59 – the firm is currently up by 3.06% in pre-market trading.
Brent Crude is below $100 a barrel for the first time in over a year as Chinese demands slows further, with August purchases falling by 2.4% after a 1.6% fall in July. Recent price decline in the commodity has also been attributed to, amongst other things, recently downgraded tension regarding potential supply interference from Iraq, Libya and Syria.
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