Tuesday, October 29: Indices in London found themselves a leg lower on the prospect of a Brexit “flextension” and BP’s Q3 report of supressed profit on lower oil prices. This depressed the FTSE 100(-0.34%) on the read-across for oil and utility stocks which form a large proportion of the primary index. Sterling rallied late in the session against both the euro and the dollar as the UK edged closer to a General Election on December 12 by way of a short bill, after Boris Johnson’s first attempt was defeated in the House of Commons yesterday.

Plus500(+5.81%) was the big mover on the FTSE 250 as it announced revenue growth of 10% year-on-year and a 39% increase in EBITDA for the third quarter of 2019 enabled by top-line growth and margin expansion. Margins at the EBITDA line grew to 63% from 50% in the prior period, as the company added 24,359 customers, yielding a total active customer base of 110,939. Consequently, performance for the first nine months was in line with expectations for the year, following the admission of an error in published accounts, and slow trading earlier in the year which saw Plus500’s stock price halve.

European equities were mixed at the close, with the FTSE 100 -0.34%, the CAC 40 +0.17% and the DAX 30 +0.10%.