Cruises, extensions and wages

Thursday 31 December 2015

The headline index edged lower at the start of the last trading session of the year, tracking overnight declines on Wall Street as low oil and other commodity prices continued to weigh on sentiment.

“Cruise shipping giant Carnival has underscored its confidence in the long-term growth in China by committing two out of four new builds to the burgeoning market,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“China still represents a small part of Carnival’s overall business but the group is increasing deployment to capture a growing proportion of a potentially huge and largely untapped market. 

“North Sea-focused Independent Oil and Gas (LSE:IOG) was an early riser after its Cronx licence was extended by one year to 9 January 2017 by the Oil and Gas Authority. This follows yesterday’s confirmation of the three month extension of the Skipper licence. IOG has also received formal confirmation that licence P2085 containing the Truman prospect and the Harvey discovery has been extended by 12 months to 20 December 2016.

“Sports Direct’s (LSE:SPD) shares were down in early trading following its decision to pay staff and directly engaged casual workers above the National Minimum Wage from the start of January, adding about £10m a year to its costs.”

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