Shares in Asian markets largely fell on Tuesday, on the back of last week’s poor growth data from China.
Official Chinese GDP growth figures showed growth slowing to 6.9 percent in the third quarter, down from 7 percent in the first half of the year. Shanghai shares dropped 0.1 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5 percent, with Australian stocks also losing 0.6 percent.
Spreadbetters are expecting a slightly lower open for the FTSE on the back of this news; however, several companies have posted positive results this morning.
Online fashion giant Asos has posted an 18 percent increase in sales and a pre-tax profit up 1 percent on the previous year to £47 million.
The company said in a statement that trading in its current financial year has “started well”, and has estimated a sales growth of 20% this year.
Whitbread (LON:WTB), owner of Costa coffee, has reported a 5.4 percent increase on its pre-tax profit for the first half of the year, at £254.9 million. However, it also warned that the minimum wage rise will cost the company around £15 million a year, which they hope to mitigate through “a combination of economies of scale as we grow, procurement benefits and investment in training and systems to deliver increases in productivity and efficiency”.
Whitbread are currently trading up 2.19 percent at 4828.55 pence per share. (0808GMT)
