The FTSE 100 is little changed today as traders digest earnings results from some of its constituent companies. The index is trading at £5,600, which is slightly higher than this week’s low of £5,525. It is led by companies like Royal Dutch Shell, Lloyds Bank, and BT Group that have released their earnings this morning.
In a report earlier today, BT Group announced that it made significant strides in the third quarter and hinted about a return of its dividend. Its revenue for the past nine months were £10.59 billion, down by 8% because of the impact of the virus. It also reported strong uptake of its consumer FTTP customer base. BT share price is up by 5% and is trading at 106.90p.
Royal Dutch Shell, which is a major member of the FTSE 100 said that its revenue and profits increased in the third quarter. The company made more than $955 million in profit. That was significantly lower than the $4.84 billion it made in the same year in 2019. But, it was better than the consensus estimate of $146 million.
Remarkably, in a pitch to investors, the company announced that it would increase its dividend by 4% to 16.16 cents. This is significant since it had reduced its dividend earlier this year. Shell share price is up by 2.14% and is trading at 919p.
Lloyds Bank is another top mover in the FTSE 100. The country’s biggest bank returned to profitability in the third quarter, boosted by uptick of mortgage demand and higher consumer spending. It also allocated £301 million in bad debt, lower than the previous £2.4 billion. In total, the company made a pre-tax profit of £1 billion. Lloyds share price is up by 2.64% at £28.38.
On the other hand, the worst-performing companies are WPP Group, Standard Chartered, Informa, and Pearson.
On the daily chart, the FTSE 100 has been in a downward trend after peaking at £6,512 in June. The index has formed a descending channel that is shown in blue. It is at the lower side of this channel. It is also slightly below the 15-day and 25-day moving averages. Also, it is slightly above the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level. Therefore, while the overall trend is lower, it is possible that bulls will return and attempt to test the upper resistance level.
