Market report: CMC rides high on global virus trading rollercoaster

Images of traders with their heads in their hands may have dominated TV screens in recent weeks, but staff at CMC Markets could have been forgiven for punching the air.

Today the spread betting to foreign exchange trading firm said that its contract for difference business had generated annual income of £241 million up on £216 million in 2019 — helped by a strong final quarter’s trading as the Covid-19 crisis sent global markets on a rollercoaster ride.

Peel Hunt analyst Stuart Duncan said: “Clearly there has been high levels of client trading with volatility attracting both existing and new clients.

“We don’t know how long this level of trading activity will go on for so that’s holding back the share price a little. It depends on the shape of the global recovery.”

CMC boss and former Conservative party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas said CMC is not reliant on sustained volatility to grow. Duncan argued the company’s technology is also a strong asset. The shares were up 7p or 4% at 201p

Calling the oil market has been as slippery a job as the black stuff itself of late, and so it proved today. US President Donald Trump put a rocket under the oil price yesterday, tweeting that he had brokered a deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia to cut output. Today those gains were initially trimmed amid fears Trump wouldn’t make his promise stick, but chatter that the Opec oil cartel might meet next week helped lift Brent Crude up $1.11 to $31.03. Shares in BP and Shell both fell, down 8p to 345p and 27p to 1515p respectively.

Overall the FTSE 100 fell 58.52 points to 5421.70 as the global number of coronavirus cases topped one million.

Tullow Oil attempted to reassure investors of its financial footing, saying it now has access to $700 million of undrawn loans and cash. It also cut planned spending by $50 million to $300 million this year. The oiler has been on the back foot since it admitted in November that it had discovered the wrong type of oil — which was too expensive to refine— in its wells off the coast of Guyana. Shares rose 3p to 14.7p.

Oil services group Hunting ditched its $0.06 a share final dividend amid the the oil price fall but will pay a $0.03 interim divi. The stock rose 19p to 202p.

Publisher and events group Ascential, formerly Emap, had investors heading for the exit as it cancelled this year’s Cannes Lions festival. The five-day conference and awards, which had been slated for October, is seen as the Oscars of the advertising industry. The shares dived 8% or 18p to 206p.