StanChart knocks BNP Paribas off Citi Focus List
Analysts at Citi added shares of Standard Chartered to their Focus List in substitution for shares of French lender BNP Paribas, telling clients that weakness in the share price of the former in the wake of its third quarter numbers represented "an attractive buying opportunity".
AstraZeneca
10,860.00p
08:25 19/04/24
Banks
3,837.66
08:25 19/04/24
British American Tobacco
2,306.00p
08:25 19/04/24
FTSE 100
7,837.84
08:25 19/04/24
FTSE 350
4,310.52
08:25 19/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,266.79
08:25 19/04/24
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
21,059.84
08:25 19/04/24
Standard Chartered
656.20p
08:25 19/04/24
Tobacco
26,129.75
08:24 19/04/24
To back up their case, they pointed out how the lender's finance chief had provided reassurances on the long-term outlook for costs and capital.
Looking ahead, they highlighted various potential catalysts for the stock, including: better macroeconomic conditions in developed Asian markets, particularly in Hong Kong and Singapore, local market growth in-line with peers, improving net interest margins.
Furthermore, Citi highlighted StanChart's relatively high sensitivity to the direction of interest rates in the US and the broker's forecast for its dividend yield to be the highest of its Asian and Emerging Market peers by 2019.
In the same research report, Citi said its strategists were still 'bullish' on European banks, labeling them a 'momentum buy', adding that it would be a "key beneficiary" of the global shift from mixed to synchronised growth and rising US government bond yields.
The latter, they said, were headed higher over the next six to 12 months.
Other UK-listed stocks on Citi's Focus List were AstraZeneca (6000p) and British American Tobacco (5800p).