US open: Markets open higher ahead of Alibaba's IPO
Markets opened higher on Friday, after the ‘no’ vote in the Scottish independence referendum had a positive influence on the stocks and removed marked uncertainty.
Amazon.Com Inc.
$179.22
13:09 18/04/24
FTSE 100
7,845.88
14:00 19/04/24
GSK
1,584.50p
14:00 19/04/24
Oracle Corp.
$116.00
11:04 18/04/24
The pro-union vote in the Scottish referendum was the second positive news the markets received this week, the other being the Federal Reserve decision not to hike interest rates for the time being.
After reaching a high of $1.65 when the result of the referendum was announced, the pound fell slightly to $1.63, while the dollar closed at a seven-year high against the yen.
In corporate news, Alibaba Group Holding was set to make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday in what could be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history.
Having been priced at $68 on Thursday, Alibaba was valued at $168bn making it one of the largest US listed companies, with a market capitalisation even bigger than Amazon’s.
“We believe that a differentiated pricing model, strong brand, and unmatched scale give Alibaba an unfair competitive advantage relative to peer both in and outside China,” Youssef Squali, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said in a note.
“While the stock’s not cheap, we believe the company’s outsized growth and margin profiles, if sustained, should support higher valuation over time.”
Yahoo, which owns a stake in Alibaba, rose on Friday, while Oracle fell in premarket trading after news emerged that chief executive officer (CEO) Larry Ellison is stepping down in favour of Safra Catz and Mark Hurd who will serve as co-CEOs.
Concur Technologies surged as high as 20% after news that Germany-based SAP AG will assume control of the software firm in a deal worth $8.3bn, while GlaxoSmithKline rose slightly, despite the fact that one its subsidiaries in China was found guilty of bribery and fined $491.5m.
Dresser-Rand was also on the rise, after reports that German multinational engineering and electronics company Siemens was planning to offer more than $6.1bn for the US-based firm.
West Texas intermediate crude dropped slightly and was trading at $92.77 a barrel, while gold was sliding towards a third weekly loss.